By Phillip Hines

In Luke 18:18-23 you have the story of a young ruler who was rich. He came to Jesus wanting to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life.

He was the kind of person whose name could have easily been on a list of “The Most Likely to Succeed.” Any parent would have loved to have him as a son-in-law. 

He had money. Therefore, a lot of doors were opened for him. Anything could have been his. 

He had youth. This meant that most of his life was ahead of him. 

He had good morals. He had kept all the commandments from his youth up! 

This was everything you could ever want out of a young man. He wanted to know. He didn’t come to Jesus arguing his point of view. The young man came asking for the advice of Jesus and seeking eternal life.

Even with all he had, however, there were some things he didn’t have. 

He didn’t have happiness. Apparently, he had learned there were some things in life money couldn’t buy. 

He didn’t have peace of mind. Even though he had lived a clean life, he knew things were not right between himself and God. 

He didn’t have generosity. Jesus told him to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor; the Bible says he went away sorrowfully because he had many possessions. 

The young man was addicted to his possessions. 

A few verses after this story, Jesus says in Luke 18:29-30, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.” 

By surrendering all to Jesus, the young man could have had more than he ever had!

Yep, he had it all – well, almost everything.