Rich Young Addict

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is the question asked by the rich young ruler to Jesus. I have been thinking a lot about this passage lately. Jesus response is very fascinating to me. He begins by pointing this young man to the Law of Moses. It is interesting to me because we know that on this side of grace that the law cannot save you. The keeping of the law is not what brings about transformation. Certainly keeping the law is a good thing but it can lead to a false sense of importance and holiness. Personal holiness is not about keeping the law. I cannot keep enough of the law for long enough to be considered holy nor to be saved from my sin. Holiness is a gift of grace from Jesus. He clothes us with righteousness and holiness. It is his garments that cover us that make us holy and not the things we do. That is a very hard thing for some of us to understand. It certainly was a concept that this young man did not get.
Jesus strikes at the heart of this young man when he says to him to sell all he owned, give the money to the poor and then come and follow HIM. The point he was making here is that it is not the young mans sense of personal holiness or doing the right thing that will gain him eternal life: it will be to surrender to himself to Jesus. Jesus aptly shows this young man that in order to gain eternal life he needs to be owned by him “Come follow me”. Instead the young man reveals that what truly owns his heart is his love for his money, wealth and stuff. That is what owns him. The point is made that money is talked about a lot in scripture because it is the thing that is a popular idol of ours. But it’s not the only one. There are many addictions and which in reality, are many idols.
I have been thinking about my addictions in the context that they own me. My addiction is the thing that I love the most and that is an idol in the way of my relationship with God. Like the rich young ruler I am breaking the first commandment of not having any other gods before the One True King. The way past the addiction is to follow Jesus and put Him first. My love for God must surpass that of my love for the addiction. In fact, my heart needs to change towards the addiction. I need to hate this Sin and see it as Jesus does. God help me to do that. God I want to do that. I need to do that. Help me Lord.