What's In Your Hand

The Purple Cellar: What's in Your Hand (Part 2)

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
(Mark 10:17 ESV)

Have you ever had the responsibility of reviewing resumes for a job opening? If you have, then you understand what it means to find the candidate who looks perfect on paper. You line up all the job requirements with the candidate’s qualifications and… it’s seems to be a perfect fit!

If we had to come up with our own description of the ideal person to come running up to Jesus, the rich young man that we meet in Mark 10 would have that perfect resume. Certainly the disciples perceived him as the ideal candidate. He was enthusiastic, respectful, wealthy, confident, and self-assured. He was a religious leader, and he made a diligent effort to obey the whole law. This was a hard-working, upstanding, moral member of Jewish society, and he came with a perceptive question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

But the confidence with which the young man approaches Jesus is telling. He came to Jesus with his arms outstretched and full of his own accomplishments. It was by underestimating God’s perfection that this young man was able to assert that he had kept the whole law. We commit the same sin of pride by bringing God down to our level, compromising His standards and measuring Him by our performance. We avoid the light of His holiness because it shows our sin. The young man who looked like the perfect candidate didn’t grasp that God’s law searches the heart to reveal what motivates us and cuts in deep to show that even the good things that we do are stained black by sin. Even though he asked “what must I do?” this young man didn’t really think that there was anything that he lacked.

Jesus put His finger on the condition of this young man’s heart: he was confident and comfortable. Money consumed him, so that when the Savior of the world answered his question, he wouldn’t walk away from what he loved to gain eternal life. His heart – and the object of his worship – was exposed.

There’s a lot of this rich young man in us. We are all consumed by something. When God exposes the idolatry of our hearts it is painful, but the pain is sweet because it is an opportunity for mercy. It is only when we see our hearts in the light of God’s law that we cry out to Him. That is when, by God’s grace, we can throw down our empty accomplishments and follow Jesus, weak and empty-handed.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
(Phil 3:7-9 ESV).

Posted by Jennifer Redman