"Wasn't it only for him?"
David
Haven't you heard people say it? I have. It is one of the main ways
preachers, evangelists, and just ordinary people deal with this
uncomfortable passage in the New Testament:
One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the
cross, and follow Me. (Mark 10:21)
Didn't He mean that for the rich young ruler alone? Wasn't it only
for him and not for the rest of us? You know, only for those people who
have a "problem" with their riches. Isn't that what the context
of Yahshua's words tells us? You can tell that the rich young ruler
had a "problem" with riches because he went away sad.
But who has riches and doesn't trust in them? When the Great
Depression began and the stock market crashed, people jumped out of
windows and killed themselves. When their wealth was gone, they had
nothing to fall back upon. They certainly trusted in riches, and when
their riches were gone, they had nothing left to trust.
If you read the story carefully you can see that the rich young ruler
did trust Yahshua to a remarkable extent. He might have known Him and
His message better than we think. After all, he came to Him because he
knew that He had the ability to grant him the one thing he lacked -
eternal life. He even knew there was something that he must do to gain
eternal life. But the answer to his question, "Good teacher, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?" was not at all what he thought it
would be.
It was a very hard thing to do - if you love your own life in this
world - but not if you hate your life in this world.(John 12:25-26)
(excerpted from "Wasn't it only for him?" from The Litmus Test: For
Christians Only; found at:
http://www.thelitmustest.org/only-for-him.html )