As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
-Mark 10:17-27
Have you ever faced a task and thought, “This feels impossible”? You think, “It’s too much, I’m too weak, or I’m not experienced enough.” When we view our life through the lens that we hold everything, then everything can feel impossible. Thankfully, we don’t hold everything. The weight of the world—or the task in front of you—isn’t on your shoulders. When we lay everything at the feet of Jesus and follow him, he stands beside us, ready to carry the weight in our lives.
This passage in Mark 10 shows that we give everything to God because He is God of everything. In a world that tells us to hold everything close, to find our value in material things, and to determine our own truth, we have to live differently. The rich man in this passage is told to give everything away in order to have eternity, but it’s too much for him—it feels impossible. So, he walks away from Jesus.
Sometimes, what seems impossible actually holds freedom and eternity with Jesus. We hold on to our sins, our secrets, and our addictions because that feels like everything to us. It feels like the most valuable thing in the world. However, “everything” doesn’t compare to eternity. To right-size what’s valuable in our lives, we have to give our lives to Jesus. When he becomes everything to us, we have everything we need.
So, what’s keeping you from experiencing the fullness of Jesus?