The Rich Young Ruler

How Much is Enough?

So as I mentioned in my last post, I’m no scholar, minister or expert in any topic I will be discussing. With that being said, for the few people who may read this I encourage you to comment and give your perspective on what I write about.

So this guy who we are told is wealthy and who had some kind of leadership roll approaches Jesus and he knows who he is or at least he has a hunch because he calls him, “Good Teacher.” This next part I don’t quite understand because Jesus rebukes him and asks why does he call him good? Only God is good. Jesus already knowing that the man has obeyed the commandments tells him that he’s heard it said… When the man says that he has obeyed all of the commandments all of his life Jesus says that there is one thing that he lacks. He must sell all that he has then give the proceeds to the poor then he would have treasure in heaven and he instructs him to follow him. Then the man grieved in despair because he owned much property.

It seems that Jesus is always stretching the people he encounters. He didn’t say this to the woman at the well or to the blind man or to Lazarus. He said it to the one that apparently held his possessions in such high regard that he wasn’t able to give them up for Jesus.

I’ve read some commentary that this was an Abraham/Isaac sort of situation where if the man’s heart was right he would have been willing to give up his possessions, but then Jesus would tell him that he didn’t have to actually sell everything, he just needed to be willing to sell everything. I don’t agree with this interpretation. I believe that what Jesus is saying is that anything we hold in higher regard than God we must remove from our lives. He didn’t instruct the young man to give his possessions away either. He told him to sell them and give the money to the poor. There’s a huge distinction here. Either way, he is getting rid of his possessions, but Jesus instructs him to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. By selling his possessions he is able to not only rid himself of the material things of this world that is keeping him from a true relationship with God, he is also able to feed the hungry in the process.

I read this story and I start looking at my own life, my own excess, my own possessions that I value so much. I love music. I have a Masters in classical piano and before I got into the coffee business I was an audio engineer. I LOVED my work in the music business, but after seven years of working in the Christian music business I became disillusioned with the business. There are plenty of very genuine Christian artists and musicians in the Christian music business. I just so happened to get into a circle that I felt was not. So I left. But I didn’t let it deplete my joy of writing and recording music. So as I made more and more money I began to build my dream studio in my home over time, spending tens of thousands of dollars on studio equipment. That rush of dopamine when I made a purchase felt so good. Then I decided to relive my youth and get into collecting classic game consoles from the 70s through the current systems. Yes, 30 plus consoles and hundreds of games. I had to have a short throw projector to watch movies on a 127 inch projector screen. All of this is stuff I just didn’t need and the money could have gone to helping the homeless in Nashville of whom I’ve been a part of since 2007. How could I have been so deluded as to go out at night to help the homeless then return home to my den of stuff? So recently I decided I needed to start selling my things and giving the money to a non-profit in Nashville, called Open Table Nashville and also supply my truck with supplies for the winter. Once you start doing this you start wondering how much is enough? How much should I sell? How many clothes and shoes do I need? Then you start wondering where are the products I purchase are being made. Are they using child labor to produce the products that I am purchasing? It’s a deep rabbit hole and I don’t have the answer to the question. I think it’s a personal matter of the heart and I think it’s a matter of, “could I live without this?” If the answer is, “Yes,” then maybe I should sell it and live without it. How much house is enough house? How much car is enough car? These are very difficult questions to answer and it’s easy to justify our purchases in our minds.

I don’t judge anyone who drives luxury cars and live in large houses. I don’t know their heart. I do know that God says that the more that we have here on this earth the more difficult it is to enter the Kingdom of God. So it stands to reason that it is better to have little so it will be easier to be with God after our life is complete. We’re also told that it is better not to marry, but because of our lack of control many of us need to marry. That’s a discussion for another time. My point is, I guess is that all of this gets down to a matter of the heart. A matter of what do we put value on. We have to be willing to lose everything and be joyful that we still have God. It reminds me of the 2008 stock crash and investors were killing themselves because money was everything to them. This is an extreme example, but maybe we need extreme examples to drive home a point. Our hearts and minds need to be focussed on Christ and Christ’s love, not on obtaining wealth and material objects. I can speak for my own life that I have tried to have one foot in both pools. on the one hand I had a passion to help the homeless. On the other hand I had to have my things. I wasn’t following Jesus because I wanted to eat my cake and have it too. I pray that I gain a better understanding of Jesus’ teaching about the the rich man. None of us want to be the rich man who turns away from Jesus in despair because we can’t let go of our things, but it’s a difficult ask in this world. We’re approaching Christmas which ironically is a time to recognize and be thankful for the one who told us to sell our possessions and give the proceeds to the poor while we line up at stores on Black Friday to buy stuff for people that they don’t need. This may be harsh, and I’m guilty of this very thing, but it’s something to consider.

While I have no answers, I will continue to study and pray for what God wants me to do. I sincerely believe that it’s a very personal decision and the answer for me could be very different than the answer for you, but in the end I believe that God wants all of us. Not just what’s left over after our love for our house, cars and our stuff. He’s a jealous God and he will not settle for 99%. Everything we have in this world has been given to us, no matter how hard we worked, God is the provider. Think of how God must feel when He gives us a gift and we put more value in that gift than we do in Him.

#god #christianity #richyoungruler #faith #homeless #jesus #homelessness #bible