5 September | Teens
«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.” » Matthew 19: 21
One day, a very rich young man came to Jesus with a very intriguing question: “What must I do to have eternal life?” Wow! He wanted to know the secret to living forever. Jesus, knowing everyone's heart, gave an answer that might surprise us; after all, who doesn't want to know that answer?
First, Jesus talked about following the commandments, such as respecting our parents, not lying and loving others. After all, by keeping the commandments we show the world that we have been saved by Him. But Jesus knew that the young man needed more than just following rules. So He said something that made the young man think: “Sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
One detail of this text is that the commandments Jesus mentioned had to do with “love your neighbor,” and He concluded by saying that the young man should sell his things and give them to his neighbor. This answer made the young man very sad, because he had a lot of things and didn't want to get rid of them. What Jesus wanted to teach us is that we can't let anything be more important to us than God. He needs to be our only priority! It's not the things we have or how good we are that bring us eternal life, but following Jesus with all our heart.
Take Action
Take a piece of paper and draw or write something that you think is very important to you. Think: “Is this more important to me than following Jesus?” If you feel that something is taking God's place in your life, consider how you can change that.