The rich young ruler had two main problems that stopped him from responding to Christ (v16-26). His love of money is well known and prevented him from embracing Jesus as Lord (v21-22).

This is a great challenge and calls on all of us to examine ourselves to see if the Lord is truly first in our lives. Pray about this honestly to the Lord.

The second problem the rich young ruler had was maybe his biggest problem. He failed to grasp that he was a guilty sinner. This we can see in Jesus challenging him for using the term ‘good’ (v16-17). Yes, Jesus was good, but the problem was that the young man saw himself as good also (v18-19). He was blind to his sin and deluded himself that he was better than he truly was.

In following Christ, we must accept Him as Lord, but we also need to be convinced that we need Him as Saviour also. Faith and repentance are the two things required.

Maintaining a fresh understanding of our sinfulness and our total need of the grace found in Christ, are vital in continuing in a vibrant spiritual walk.