18-30, The young ruler was a man of irreproachable character. He might have said of himself all that the Apostle Paul says in Phil. 3:4, etc. But he was restless and unsatisfied. He felt that Jesus had the key to a life deeper than he had experienced, and he longed to possess it. He was so much in earnest that he knelt in the crowded thoroughfare before the despised Nazarene, Mark 10:17.

He did not know himself. He thought he possessed that love which fulfils the Law, Rom. 13:10. Our Lord desired to prove to him that he was deficient in that love, and therefore could not have the eternal life which is love. He did this by suggesting that the young ruler should renounce all and accompany him in a self-giving for others that must end in a cross. But he shrank back. He dared not face a life of simple faith in God for the supply of temporal needs, and of absolute selfgiving to a cross. For all who dare this, whatever is right and good is given back to be held and used under God’s direction.