Deeper Life #302

The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

—Matthew 19:20

TO WHOM DID THE LORD Jesus say, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again”? It was not said to a moral blackguard, but to Nicodemus–a religious leader, a spiritually minded man who had sterling characteristics. The message for every naturally religious person is, “Be born from above by the Holy Spirit.”

Many have been brought up in religious families. They have had religious tendencies put in them, and the fascination of the Lord is on them. When they hear Jesus Christ’s claims, they have a sense of heroic duty like Peter and say, “Yes, we will come.” They do not realize that Christ calls them to a completely new way of life. Let me share with you a portion from one of our Scottish ministers:

There are young and sheltered lives which have grown up amid the sanctities and in the obediences of a devout home. A godly lineage, a careful training, and the example of a winsome religious life have wrought out in them a natural piety. They grow unspotted from the world. But as years increase their growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ quickens their spiritual insight and gives them a keener sense of sin. The awful power of the world, the flesh, and the devil dismays them as it dismays no one else. They see men and women whom they love, blinded, seduced, desecrated. They see that the gentle rules that bind their own rebellious thoughts snap like Samson’s tender withes before the brute-like passions of others. And as they turn their eyes more and more on Christ they discover how far they themselves are from His holiness, and how near akin to the passion-driven profligate.

Prayer Thought: O God, deliver me from self-righteousness. I need You every moment of each day.

SUGGESTED READING: ¹⁶And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? ¹⁷And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. ¹⁸He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, ¹⁹Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ²⁰The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? ²¹Jesus said unto him, 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. ²²But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. ²³Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. ²⁵When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? ²⁶But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

—Matthew 19:16–26