One Thing Thou Lackest.
By P. P. Werner
THESE were the words of the great Teacher over eighteen hundred years ago. How applicable they are to thousands whose names are upon the church record to-day, hoping and dreaming they have treasure in Heaven. This is a plain, direct, and serious answer to a serious question. Mark 10:17, 22. “And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ attention, no doubt, was immediately arrested by his dress and general appearance. Many of the poor had followed him from the beginning, but this probably was the first rich man. He manifested great earnestness, humility, and reverence, that—by kneeling in the road in the dirt—which to-day would be considered by many a mark of fanaticism. In his question, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” he manifested a submissive and teachable disposition, a belief in a future state, in an eternal life that might be inherited. He showed that he had a stronger desire to insure that life to himself than any of the enjoyments of the present. Thus he differed from many of his age and quality, for the rich are apt to think it beneath them to make such an inquiry, and young people in general are inclined to defer it until some future period. But he felt that something must be done, some duties performed, or some divine injunctions complied with, and that he was, or at least thought he was, willing to take the necessary steps to obtain eternal life, and glad to accept it on any terms. Jesus knowing that he was regarded by him merely as a prophet sent from God, a divinely commissioned teacher, and supposed to be only a man; said, “Why callest thou me good?” as there is none good, supremely, originally, or essentially, but God. “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Jesus then rehearsed them, and the young man, feeling the reproof, drops the epithet Good, and replies: Master, all these have I kept from my childhood, what lack I yet? wherein am I deficient? what is further needful in order to my securing the glorious prize which I am pursuing? In answer to these inquiries, made by one evidently puffed up with a high opinion of his own righteousness, Jesus replies, If thou wilt be a real, thorough Christian, yet lackest thou one thing: thou must be saved from the love of the world, from all undue esteem and affection for earthly things: therefore go sell whatsoever thou hast and give, distribute the money arising from the sale thereof to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven. And come take up the cross and follow me; unite with me as my constant companion, although it may be at the expense of your life. Jesus saw his bosom sin, the love of his worldly possessions, that he could not be saved from it but by literally parting with them. For him to sell all was an absolute duty to get his affections from his earthly possessions. And when he heard this, he went away sorrowful, grieved at the saying, not being willing to have salvation at so high a price, for he had great possessions. He now plainly evidenced that he valued them more than eternal life. This is a melancholy fact of a well-educated and well-disposed young man voluntarily giving up all hope of eternal life rather than part with his temporal possessions. This truly is a sad picture, but it is one of reality. This, dear reader, may be your condition; you may lack the one thing, and that will debar you from having treasure in Heaven, and your portion will be with the lost, instead of eternal blessedness at God’s right hand in glory.—P. P. WERNER, in Earnest Christian.