What Do You Lack?

 April 25, 2023

“What do I still lack?” The young man who asked this question of Jesus didn’t lack for much of anything. Plain and simple, he was rich. Very rich. He wanted to know what he had to do to get eternal life. You can read the story in Matthew 19. 

We often tend to focus on what we lack in life. Politicians salivate at the thought. “You don’t have enough health care. You don’t have enough money for food or housing. You don’t have the opportunities others have. You’re poor…and we will help.” Only, the solutions become the new problem. 

Preachers thrive on our lack. “You don’t have holiness. You aren’t good enough. You lack salvation. You lack Jesus.” All of that may be true, but it may also be true that our real problem is not what we lack, but the abundance of what we have. Earlier in his ministry, Jesus told a story about a farmer who was sowing his field. Some of the seed fell among the thorns which choked out the seed. He described those thorns as the cares and worries of this life.

Jesus told this young man that his problem wasn’t what he didn’t have; it wasn’t his lack of eternal life. His real problem was that he had too much. His life was full. There was no room in his life for Jesus or for the poor. The biggest problems I face have little to do with my needs, but much to do with my distractions. If I want to follow Jesus, there are things I must let go of. I can’t hold onto Jesus and everything else at the same time. The real question is not what I lack, but what do I have that prevents me from holding onto Jesus alone? It’s probably your question, too.