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Matt 19:16-22

16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" 17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." 18 He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 19 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " 20 The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Sometimes we tend to think that we are doing ok and that nothing could harm us. That's when we usually fall flat on our faces.
Think about today's devotional verses. Here this guy is a little arrogant and asks Jesus: what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?

Jesus response was: But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.

His response was: "Which ones?"

Now wait a minute, there are Ten Commandments from God, did Moses say to God, "Ok, ten, but how many do we really have to keep?"
Isn't that just what this guy was asking Jesus? Yet Jesus responded with: " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "

Basically the ones concerning others and how we treat them.
But once again his reply to Jesus is: "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?"
Ok Jesus, I've done all of that, what more do I need to do?
Yet his arrogance got the better of him as Jesus replies with: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

And we know the outcome by reading the last verse: But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

What this shows us is that even though he thought he was ok, the truth of God's word showed him that he wasn't all that he thought he was.
He boasted on keeping six out of the Ten Commandments, yet in reality, he couldn't even keep one of them.

So what's so encouraging about this? Jesus never put him down, but rather encouraged him to do what was right.
God's word is not here to bring us down, but rather to encourage us to do right, and as we read through the bible, we see there were a lot of people just like you and me, and God and Jesus loved them and us too.
So read God's word and be encouraged to do what is right. But when you mess up, don't walk away sorrowful like this guy did, but rather turn to Jesus and ask for His forgiveness, and then continue to walk with Jesus.

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