Sell All You Have and Give to the Poor - Luke 18:22

The beloved physician Luke wrote how, “a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why do you call me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up”, and in chapter eighteen and verse twenty-two of his book Luke wrote how Jesus told the ruler, “yet lack you one thing: sell all that you have, and distribute unto the poor” where we read:

Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lack you one thing: sell all that you have, and distribute unto the poor, and you shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

The verse reads, “Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lack you one thing:” Luke began with the words, “Now when Jesus” or “moreover at the time and moment the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate whose name means Jehovah is Salvation” “heard these things” which means “was given the faculty of hearing, perceiving, noticing, discerning and discovering the certain ruler's answer”, “he said unto him” or “Jesus uttered, declared and proclaimed to the certain ruler”, “yet lack you one thing” which means “still and even now you, certain ruler, are inferior, left behind, wanting and destitute of one particular trait and observation”. Luke shared how Jesus “heard” the response of the “ruler” and told him that he only was “behind and destitute” of one additional thing.

The verse goes on to say, “sell all that you have, and distribute unto the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” Luke added the words, “sell all you have” or “to barter away as a peddler and sell each, every, the whole and everything the ruler owned, possessed and held”, “and distribute unto the poor” which means “and give over, deliver and divide the proceeds to beggars and lowly and afflicted people”, “and you shall have treasure” or “and you, certain ruler, will own, possess and hold storehouses, repositories, magazines and collected wealth” “in heaven” which refers to “the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings”: “and come, follow me” which means “and arise and come forth, join and side with the party of Jesus as His disciple”. Luke shared how Jesus told the “certain ruler” to “sell” everything he owned and give the proceeds to the poor, and He promised the ruler that he would have great “wealth” in “heaven” when he did. After he obeyed this directive by Jesus, he would be able to “arise” and come “after” Him as one of His disciples.

When we think through Luke's words in this verse, we learn about this specific directive given to the “certain ruler”. The “commandments” of God were for everyone, and the idea of “selling everything” and distributing to the poor was to this “ruler”. He had one “barrier” to receiving “eternal life”, and his possessions were keeping him from having a personal relationship with God. God loves every person, and He provides “every good and perfect gift” (See James 1:17) to them. Those who wise will understand they would have nothing if it were not for God. Because He provided His “salvation” through His Son Jesus, all who consider their own personal directive from God that is keeping them from “eternal life” should submit to Him and receive His forgiveness and everlasting promise.

Next time Luke shares when the ruler, “heard this, he was very sorrowful”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".