Daily Devotional For Wednesday, January 7, 2026
Good morning Southside. I hope your day is off to a great start. We are making our way through Matthew’s Gospel in the current devotionals. Today, we come to Matthew 19:16-30. Because this is a longer discourse of Jesus talking to a rich young ruler about eternal life, we will take several days to look at this story. This way I am able to keep the devotionals shorter. Here is the passage:
“And behold, a man came up to Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ (17) And He said to him, ‘Why do you ask Me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’ (18) He said to Him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, (19) Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (20) The young man said to Him, ‘All these I have kept. What do I still lack?’ (21) Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ (22) When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (23) And Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. (24) Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ (25) When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’ (26) But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ (27) Then Peter said in reply, ‘See, we have left everything and followed You. What then will we have?’ (28) Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (29) And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for My name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. (30) But many who are first will be last, and the last first’” (ESV).
We are continuing to look at this longer teaching by Jesus because He packs so much in these verses. A rich young synagogue ruler came to Jesus asking Him, “How does one get eternal life?” This seems odd since one would expect him to think that as long as he honored the Old Testament Law, he would believe that was enough. Jesus knows this and refers him to keeping the Old Testament commandments. Jesus does this also because the man wants the one good thing he needs to do to get eternal life.
Jesus’ response reveals that goodness is not measured by one’s actions or works. Jesus says that only God is good. Now in the Greek text the emphasis falls on the word “me.” Jesus asked, ‘Why do you ask Me . . . about what is good?” The man wants to know what – what deeds are good enough to earn him eternal life. Jesus switches from what to who. Jesus tells him eternal life is not through what, but through Who. God and God alone. Jesus redirects this man’s attention from deeds to deity. As a Jewish synagogue ruler, he should know this. So, does he come to Jesus thinking Jesus may know something or have some additional insight he does not have? So, Jesus redirects him to keeping the commandments in Matthew 19:17.
Jesus is not saying He Himself is not good because Jesus was God in human flesh and was perfectly good. So, why this answer from Jesus? Jesus can see the pride in this man’s questions and answers. When Jesus responds with the Ten Commandments, he proudly says he has kept them all. But as we saw with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:21-48 that sin starts in the heart first. Murder, adultery, and coveting for example do not first manifest themselves as actions. They first grow as attitude’s in one’s heart.
This rich young ruler is being legalistic that in actions he has not committed adultery, or murdered or stolen or dishonored his parents. By all outside appearances, he is a good Jewish young man. In some way he thinks he is the star of the basketball team when in reality he only sits on the bench as the water boy. Jesus said previously that the Kingdom of God belongs only to those who humble themselves (see Matt. 18:3-4).
This man is proud. He is proud of his works and deeds. He thinks he has done all the minimum God requires and now asks, “What else do I need to do to insure my eternal life?” He is more in love and proud of his deeds that the deity of God. This is nothing new. There are people today who think their goodness is good enough. This man knows as a Jew he is supposed to keep God’s Law as a sign of his goodness, but there is nothing he could do nor us today to be good enough to get eternal life.
So, Jesus comes back to the man’s proud answer and tells him that if he still wants to “be perfect . . . then . . .” The word translated as perfect is [τέλειος; teleios]. It does not mean “without sin” or “perfection.” It means “to be mature, complete and wholehearted in one’s devotion to God.” In verse 23 Jesus was not telling him the ultimate act or deed to get eternal life – “sell all you have give to the poor and then come and follow Me.” In the Greek text the emphasis is on “follow Me,” not “sell all.” Jesus does not allow this man to control the conversation. He is boastful, giving flattery to himself when in reality his self-justification proves he had no concept of goodness at all.
We should not be surprised at Jesus’ answers. Jesus sacrificed all for us – His life. In order for us to follow Him and have eternal life, Jesus has the right to ask us to give up all our possessions to follow Him. Why? We can serve both God and money (see Matt. 6:24). For this man, his real god was money and his wealth. This is why Jesus asked him to give it all up. Jesus may not ask you or me to give up our wealth or money or possession, but He will ask us to give up something, especially if it is our god. Genuine discipleship requires sacrifice, not self-confidence.
To this man goodness was on a horizontal scale, but Jesus challenged him with showing him that goodness was vertical – “Only God is good and He is the standard of goodness only.” Goodness is not based on how our goodness is better than another person’s goodness, but how our goodness compares to God’s goodness. Jesus immediately deflated this man’s pride. We will look more at this tomorrow. Jesus gave this man a test. No matter what his prideful heart had convinced him about salvation, because he was unwilling to forsake all, he never obtained it. Salvation is only to those who are willing to forsake everything if asked. For this man, the issue to Jesus was not his discipleship, but his salvation.
Assignment: When it comes to your own sense of goodness, do you consistently live in the humble awareness that comparative goodness has to be vertical, not horizontal? If you say, “Yes,” then do you ever compare yourself to others and think you are better? Do you ever remind yourself or at times tell others about all the “good” things you do for the Lord and His church? When was the last time you really compared your goodness to God’s goodness?
Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 10:38-39, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (39) He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please forgive me when I make my personal discipleship about the vertical – comparing my attitude and actions to others. Lord, You are the standard of goodness. Please forgive me of my pride when I limit discipleship to my own standards of goodness. Lord, whatever you are asking me to sacrifice for You, I will do it. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside – Pastor Kelly