Another side of The One thing

 Now there is a situation where the one thing we lack is the very one thing we need above all else.

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Mark 10:21 (NIV)

I wrote about The One Thing the other day. That was primarily focused on my pursuit of one trivial item that day that would've ended in a big fiasco but God was there to help me. The other side of this lies this interaction between Jesus and this man who approached him in Mark 10:17. He had done everything such as keeping the commandments and it sounds like he had some wealth also. In his case, he had earthly wealth or treasure but he wanted to know how to inherit eternal life. It sounds like he realized he didn't have the latter. No?

As we can see from the verse Jesus tells him to do two things. 

• Go, sell everything he has and give to the poor
• Then, come follow him (Jesus)

I think a lot of times, I hear one or the other being emphasized. Almost like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: one is being told to give to the poor or follow Jesus. This isn't the case where we either know the momentum of a ball and not know the position or vice versa. In our case, we can know it all and have it all. It's not an either/or situation. He was asked to do both. 

If he sold all he had and gave to the poor but didn't follow Jesus, would he inherit eternal life? 

And what if he didn't sell and give to the poor but decided to follow Jesus?

There are times we encounter a person who points to his charitable giving and good deeds as being enough because he doesn't need to believe in God. They may even tout how they do better than those "churchgoers". And there are those who identify as Christians and are hoarding all the wealth they can. And they tout doing better than that rich charitable person because they are lost - they don't know Jesus. 

In this man's case, it seems like he was given the order of doing things: give up certain things and then come follow me. And for some, the thing that needs to be given up isn't wealth like this man. It could be something else: a job where you're defrauding people, a life of crime, constantly lying, a relationship, etc. And for some of us, when we are told the first part, our reaction is no different from this man's reaction as the next verse tells us:

At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Mark 10:22

Are you not coming to Jesus Christ because you find it hard to give up something? What if I told you at one day, you will surely give up that very thing when you die? Because some things are things of this world. We don't take it with us when we leave this earth. We can't.