"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?"
Matthew 19:20
This is from a story where a young man asks Christ how to gain eternal life, and Christ explains the commandments to him. Then he says this. After this, Christ tells him that if he wants to be perfect he will sell what he has, give it to the poor, and come and follow him. What happens next is an interesting lesson... he sorrows because he is rich and losing his worldly goods would be really hard for him. But before that, right here, I think is the best question of all. "What lack I yet?"
It's not necessarily a great question if we're already feeling down on ourselves. If we know plenty of things that we need to work on, let's go to it. No need to ask for more. I was thinking more on our over confident days, or in areas where we might think we're pretty darn perfect already. In those cases it is a very good question, because it helps us to remember that there are always things to do better, and helps us remember to go to God for the answers. I don't think that God is always going to give the same answer to everyone that he gave to this young man, because we all lack different things, and need to learn different lessons, but it is an important lesson to ask in all of our lives, not so much as 'where am I not perfect,' but more as 'what should I work on next?'
Today, let's go to God and ask him to help us know what we need to learn next to progress on our journey towards him. Let's be willing to change and become better as we learn more about God and his gospel, work to serve our fellow beings, and make the world a better place.
Matthew 19:20
This is from a story where a young man asks Christ how to gain eternal life, and Christ explains the commandments to him. Then he says this. After this, Christ tells him that if he wants to be perfect he will sell what he has, give it to the poor, and come and follow him. What happens next is an interesting lesson... he sorrows because he is rich and losing his worldly goods would be really hard for him. But before that, right here, I think is the best question of all. "What lack I yet?"
It's not necessarily a great question if we're already feeling down on ourselves. If we know plenty of things that we need to work on, let's go to it. No need to ask for more. I was thinking more on our over confident days, or in areas where we might think we're pretty darn perfect already. In those cases it is a very good question, because it helps us to remember that there are always things to do better, and helps us remember to go to God for the answers. I don't think that God is always going to give the same answer to everyone that he gave to this young man, because we all lack different things, and need to learn different lessons, but it is an important lesson to ask in all of our lives, not so much as 'where am I not perfect,' but more as 'what should I work on next?'
Today, let's go to God and ask him to help us know what we need to learn next to progress on our journey towards him. Let's be willing to change and become better as we learn more about God and his gospel, work to serve our fellow beings, and make the world a better place.
This is good!
ReplyDeleteMore of a problem is when to let go of this"nice"bondage of Sin?
(We) are scared of being poor,;what a shame!!.