He was wealthy, had any material possession he wanted. His wealth brought prestige as well, even though he was a young man. He was a decent guy, no major vices that anyone knew of, not a thief or embezzler, not a slum lord or anything like that. He wasn’t a womanizer, honored his parents, and he treated neighbors well. He was very intelligent. Yet, he had an addiction – an addiction to his wealth.
So, he goes to Jesus and asks Him how he can have it all…meaning eternal life (Mark 10:17 -27). The rich young man wanted to know how to have eternal life and he went to the right place to find it…to the only One who can give eternal life - Jesus Christ. He went the right way too…in humility. He ran to Jesus, knelt before Him, called Him “Good Teacher”, and then made his request.
Jesus responded by talking about the 10 Commandments. Now hang on a second, Jesus knows we are saved by grace through faith in Him alone…not the works of the Law (Ephesians 2:8-10). So why did Jesus start talking about the 10 Commandments? Well, because Jesus was modeling the truth later recorded for us in Galatians 3:24 – “The Law is our tutor to bring us to Christ.” The Law shows us that we are all guilty of sin. This young man thought he was doing pretty well – “I’ve kept all those things.” He was a good guy, according to himself (and aren’t we all). But Jesus knows the heart – He knew there was an addiction problem. Mark 10:21 records that Jesus told the young man to go and sell all he had and come follow Him. This comment by Jesus is not the way of salvation. We don’t earn eternal life by giving away everything we own in this life; that would be salvation by good works. The Spirit, through the Apostle Paul later wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:3 “and though I give all my goods to feed the poor…but have not love, it profits me nothing.” Jesus wasn’t telling the young man that the way to eternal life was giving up everything he had; rather, He was revealing this young man’s addiction. As much as the young man wanted eternal life, he decided that the cost of giving up his addiction to wealth was too high a price to pay to love and follow Christ. Mark 10:22 says, “he (the young man) was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Jesus showed the young man that he had an addiction problem, one that would cost him what was most important – it would cost him his life. He decided to remain in his addiction and forsake his only source of hope and help. The young man trusted in riches, not in Jesus. He was in denial that he had a problem…he thought he was a pretty good guy. He was powerless to overcome his addiction and he walked away hopelessly trapped.
I don’t know what your addiction is. Maybe you don’t even think you have one. I know what mine is, and I know that we all have something…some habit or hurt that we have struggled against. It is something that has kept you from your only hope and your only help. Maybe the lies of that addiction have been luring you into keeping distance between you and Lord Jesus who knows your every word, thought and deed.
Here is what you need to understand: We are in a spiritual war, not a physical one. The real battle is not against our addiction. The real battle is over trusting in our own power to overcome our addition or in God’s power to overcome it. We cannot win or even fight it on our own; we have no ability to compete against that addiction without our only Hope and only Help because it is a spiritual battle. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ). We are powerless on our own.
If you want to experience victory over your hurts and habits, don’t push Jesus Christ away, don’t walk away like the rich young man. Join us on Friday nights and run to Him.
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