A Rich young man once asked Jesus what he should do to have eternal life. He told the Master that he had kept the Commandments from his youth, and inquired (Matt. 19:20), "What lack I yet?" Jesus answered, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." The record states that the young man "went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." Christ Jesus then addressed his disciples, saying, "Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven."
The mistaken trust in material riches, which keeps mankind out of heaven, is not confined to so-called wealthy people, but it binds also many whom the world calls poor. Indeed, heaven has been misunderstood as a future state where the poor man's present lack would be amended by a satisfying material plenitude; while the picture of a heaven without their "great possessions" has made many turn sadly away. Blindly do men put their greater trust in materiality, and deem it sacrifice to forsake the shadow for the enduring substance of Spirit.
"Sell that thou hast" might be interpreted, "Dispose of your sense of personal possession." Superficially, the young ruler's possessions would differ from types of worldly today, but the personal sense has not changed. Like him, we may keep the Commandments from our youth, but do so in the letter only if we regard our goodness as a personal possession. Jesus said, "There is none good but one, that is, God." The human quest for satisfaction in a personal sense of good, be it in happiness, ethics, wealth, or health, will always fail. Sooner or later, the question must be faced: Since God is infinite, can a man truly possess anything of his own, that is, outside infinity?
