And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible – Mark 10:27.

Only God is completely good in His nature and actions. His goodness includes all the positive moral attributes, such as grace, patience, and kindness. When the rich young ruler called Jesus “Good Master”, Jesus reminded him that only God could be properly referred to as good.Jesus didn’t discriminate, Jesus willingly interacted with every kind of person: political and religious leaders, rich and poor, diseased and demon-possessed, women and children. He looked at them as souls to be won to the Father. If we’re going to be like Jesus, we can’t discriminate whether it’s by gender, financial status, educational status, or religion. God is concerned about His creation and He doesn’t want anyone to perish, neither does He want us to offend each other with our words or behavior.

As Jesus traveled down the road, a wealthy young man ran up to Him, knelt in front of Him, and asked a question: “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus pointed out that term “good” was normally reserved for God. Most Jews would have believed that keeping the Law was the way to enter into God’s kingdom and receive eternal life, but this young man’s perceptions of good as something measured by human achievement. The young man viewed eternal life as something to be earned, like many people today. They think their works of giving money to different charitable organization, volunteering, sponsoring homeless and children shelters will give them eternal life. All of this is good, and God is well pleased with this, but if they don’t repent and accept the salvation God has offered them through His Son, all of their good works will not give them entrance to heaven. Riches will not keep us from heaven unless we’re placing our trust in our riches, and the love of money.

Jesus looked at the young man, saw his intense desire and love for God, and He loved him. However, He saw deep into the innermost recesses of his heart and knew that the young man was trusting in his riches. Many religions think because you’re wealthy, or financially stable, you’re blessed, and that’s true, but money doesn’t go into heaven neither does it makes us candidates for heaven. Jesus not only taught us to be unconcerned about acquiring worldly possessions and coveting the wealth of this world, He also warned us of the danger of trusting in riches.

Jesus’ instructions for the young ruler was to sell whatever he had and give to the poor. The young ruler couldn’t do what was asked of him, he rose to his feet and walked away. The young ruler couldn’t give up his possessions. In order to be followers of Jesus, we can’t allow anything or anyone to stop us from following the instructions He give us. The Father and the Son love us, and they would never tell us to forsake something that would be detrimental to our well-being. When we’re asked to forsake something it’s for our best interest or it’s to see if we will deny ourselves to please the Father. We need to ask ourselves, “I’m I holding on to something or someone God has instructed me to let go?” Self-examination is good for the soul and it will help us to submit our will to God’s will.