Day 65: The Rich Young Ruler

Matthew 19:16-30; Numbers 13-14; Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

There is a lot to learn from this rich young ruler and Jesus’ discussion.  First, the ruler is deceived thinking that he has to do some good thing in order to have eternal life.  Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  This is something that many people do not understand or at least do not follow.  Then the young man asks “which ones” he must obey out of the commandments.  What I think is most interesting is that Jesus doesn’t respond with some word about “you can’t just pick!” No, instead, Jesus lists a few of the commands that the young ruler has followed.  But the ruler seems to understand that there is more to it than that; he must have felt a hole in his soul and knew that doing those things was not enough because he pursues his question again.  Materialism, that is the sin that separated this young man from salvation, and Jesus knew it.  This young man probably knew, deep down, what he had to do to be saved, but perhaps he was hoping for validation of his lifestyle from Jesus.  And that is something God's word does NOT give: validation for a lifestyle that values anything more than God himself.

In Numbers, the report of the men sent to Canaan disturbed the crowd, and that is probably to be expected.  God told these people that they would inherit the land, but how were they to do so when such strong people remained there?  But instead of bowing their heads in prayer and lifting up their hearts in worship to see what the Lord had planned, they started shouting irrational plans, fears, and doubts.  They did not trust in God’s power or plan.  They had not even experienced any hardship yet and they were ready to give up and disobey.

Obedience to God is so important.  When I obey the Lord, I know that I am trusting in his voice in my heart.  God does try to lead us and guide us by the promptings of our hearts, but so often we ignore them.  We wait until we feel more comfortable, rather than just acting right away.

Children suffer from the choices and sins of their parents.  The children of the Israelites had to wander for 40 years in the desert because their parents refused to trust in the Lord.  It is true that children are affected by their parents’ decisions, even years down the line.

Anything can happen to any of us.  Life sometimes is unfair, sometimes it is hard, sometimes it doesn’t make sense.  We need to realize that such things happen and it doesn’t mean that God hates us or is trying to punish us; it doesn’t mean that we've done something wrong; that is just life. The message I kind of get from Ecclesiastes is: do your best and try your hardest to have joy.  That’s it.  Simplifies a lot of life.