Just then a rich young man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied.“There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.”18 “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied:“‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. 19 Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself. 20 “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?” 21 Jesus told him,“If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Matthew 19:16-22)
The young man in the story said, “I’ve obeyed all the commandments,” but that obviously wasn’t true. He was not being honest with himself or Jesus. The question he asked Jesus was not at the bequest of all mankind, but rather one that focused on himself. He was looking for one thing he could do to get to heaven; one command to follow, one deed that he could do.
To Jesus, this man was like a window—He could see right through him. Jesus knew this young man’s focus was on himself and his own achievements. So Jesus tested him. He thought, “You want one thing, then I’ll give you one…” He told him to put God first by selling everything he had and giving it to the poor.
The love of money had become this man’s god. And now he comes asking Jesus for the one thing he can do? The rich young man was violating the commandments; “Thou shalt have no other gods before me and Thou shalt not covet.” This means that this young man had broken the first and tenth commandments, and probably every one in between.
The Bible clearly teaches that all have sinned and come short of God’s perfect standard. There is no one who has lived totally righteous life, as this young ruler claimed he had. Obviously, Jesus knew this. However, the rich young man didn’t. He was under the deception that there was some good thing he could do that could purchase him eternal life.
Jesus desired to turn this man from trusting in himself, by showing him God’s perfect standard, which no one could keep… The man needed to be honest with himself, to admit that he was a sinner, and to realize that salvation could only come through faith and hope in The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Then Jesus sweetened the pot for the man. He didn’t just ask him to give up everything with no return. He told him he would have treasure in heaven. “And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29)
Jesus was always ready to teach. The young man asked a question, but he wasn’t ready to learn. In my mind, Jesus posed theses questions to the man; “How bad do you want to become part of My world? Can you truly give up, all of your world?” I think that was the lesson Jesus was teaching that day…Lesson 101:”Be honest—How bad do you really want it?”
This young man was standing face to face with Jesus. He wanted to know how to obtain eternal life, Jesus told him, then the man turned and walked away… How bad did he want it? Not bad enough—Lesson taught, lesson missed.
Jesus knew this young man’s nature, and He knew this man needed a changed direction if he wanted to gain eternal salvation. But, Jesus never let an opportunity pass to teach a lesson to His disciples. His concern in this moment was His chosen disciples, His church builders. This man was a lesson for them. He knew a lesson taught to them, was time well spent. They relied and trusted on God. They wanted it bad and were willing to do whatever it takes.
The young man’s lesson led the disciples to ask; “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. 26 Jesus looked at them intently and said,“Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26) For the disciples it was a lesson taught, and a lesson learned.
I was in a car accident when I was 16 years old. My brother was driving us to a Saturday off-season workout session. In a heavy rain, he lost control of his tiny two-seater sports car. The car turned sideways, slid across the roadway and was broadsided by an oncoming truck. Through my passenger window I saw the truck coming directly at my side of the car. Just before impact, I was able to turn my head away from the side window and shift my body toward the stick shift in the middle of the car. I regained conciseness as the firemen pried the car away from my body.
I woke up three days later in a hospital bed. My parents were not there when I woke up, and a nurse came in. Although I remembered everything that had happened, including much of the time the medics worked on me, I didn’t know the extent of my injuries.
When I woke, I was in pain and I couldn’t move. I thought that I was being restrained but I wasn’t. My body had been abused so much that it simply needed a break. Once my mind figured out where I was, I searched for answers.
I remembered that the first practice of the season was Monday, and asked the nurse if I would be released in time. I will never forget what she said: “Today is Wednesday. You’ve been here for 3 days. That ship has sailed. There’s no need to be thinking about practice…I doubt you’ll ever play football again. Let’s think about more important things, like getting you better.”
I was devastated, I cried out for the doctor… The doctor came in quickly, but without my parents present, he wouldn’t go into much depth on my condition. I knew the nurse was wrong. I told myself that she had no idea who she was dealing with. That sports were more apart of me than some little accident could ever be. But it was hard not to doubt… There I was left in a room, bandaged and in pain, with tubes and wires tying me down to bags and machines. The pain was intense, but nothing hurt as bad as the venomous words the nurse placed in my young mind.
Later that day, I learned that I had broken several ribs, which had punctured and collapsed my right lung. That explained why breathing hurt so bad. Just above my tail bone I had fractured 2 vertebra. They had twisted about 10 degrees and while doing so they pushed the disk between them out of alignment and up against my spinal cord nerves. A tendon in my right knee had been severed when the door frame was driven into it, leaving a nasty laceration exposing the bone.
The truck had run straight into my passenger door. Which crushed in on me trapping me to the shifter column and sending glass into the entire right side of my body. I had been able to turn away from the window, however, I could not escape the violence.
The firemen later told me, when they arrived that they were amazed that the driver, my brother, was alive and standing outside of the vehicle. Once called, it took them 8 minutes to arrive at the scene, and they assumed the lifeless body they saw inside the wrecked vehicle was likely dead. The fireman told me that it was nothing short of a miracle that I survived…Thank you Jesus.
I wasn’t wearing a shirt, and I was covered in oil and blood. Three emergency medics worked for over 3 hours cleaning the oil and grease out of my wounds, and removing the glass shards from my head, face, neck, shoulder, chest and back. The doctor said my right arm looked like hamburger meat when I arrived. I received over 250 stitches that day. To this day small shards of glass are still working there way out of my body. No wonder the nurse thought what she did.
When I was younger, for many years and in many sports, my father was my coach. He always had time to teach me, train me, or give me a lesson. He was my hero. Dad’s lessons didn’t come straight from The Bible, like how I receive most of my lessons today. His lessons came more from the “Book of the School of Hard Knocks.” You wouldn’t think it, but it’s strange how life’s lessons from that book and The Bible are so similar… Well, its not so much as the books themselves, which have obvious differences; One is worldly and one is divine, but rather the teachers that are giving the lessons.
If the teachers are the same; if they are honest, compassionate, have integrity and teach with love, the lessons often come out nearly the same. Often the heart of the one teaching from the book can yield as much influence as the book itself.
We are all created in the image of God, and when the teacher of the book exhibits the character of the Creator, then the two lessons taught are often very similar. Consider yourself blessed when you’re taught lessons by those with the character of God. I recommend that you recognize who these men or women are in your life.
As my father sat beside my hospital bed. I told him what the nurse had said, and as maybe only a father can do, he instinctively understood all that was in my head… He told me “Jim you can do anything you set your mind too. If anybody ever tells you differently, they are simply wrong. It will never be about them, it will always be about you. Son, it’s very simple, you can accomplish anything…if you want it bad enough.”
My best friend Tom showed up in my hospital room the next day. He had heard of my accident and hitch-hiked down from Michigan.
The staff came in to take care of me, and they needed to move me. I told them that I thought I could walk, but they wouldn’t let me, so they lifted me out of bed like an invalid. I knew I needed to be walking. I told Tom that I had to get out of this bed and get as far away from this place as possible. So we hatched a plan.
Tom went to my house and grabbed my father’s car. When he came back, while still in my hospital gown, he wrangled me into a wheelchair and rolled me right out the front door. I wasn’t released to leave, but we left all the same.
I never went back. Not for any follow-ups, or rehabs, or even to have my stitches removed. I did every thing myself, with the help of Tom and my parents. Within hours of my escape with Toms help, I had figured out how to walk.
Just a few hours earlier they had told me I couldn’t walk. Now I was living the dream and walking down a Florida beach. Tom said I looked like a combination of Frankenstein’s monster and the Mummy. I didn’t care, I wanted it bad!— I was back in the game. I wasn’t able to play football that season, but I did the next!
Being honest with myself, I came to understand that the noise in my head, really wasn’t about never being able to play football again. It was about someone telling me, I wouldn’t be able to do something. That was not the truth, and it certainly was not the truth my father had taught me. Get out of my head nurse Ratchet! I’ve got things to do, places to go, footballs to throw. And yes, I do want it bad enough!—Lesson taught, lesson learned.
The lesson of the young rich man from above, is one of the many lesson’s preserved in The Bible from the greatest teacher who ever lived. It was not a lesson about giving away everything you have, to get in to Heaven. It was a lesson about identifying your priorities, and what you’re willing to do to accomplish them. Be honest with yourself—How Bad do you want it?
“I tell you the Truth”
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