What Must I Do To Inherit Eternal Life?

In Mt. 19:16-22, a man asks Jesus a question,” What must I do to inherit eternal life?” That’s a great question… almost like a practice test before the Judgment Day. Imagine if Jesus could do a brief review of our spiritual condition and tell us what we have to work on. What a blessing! We potentially could be much better prepared to face the Judgment. Jesus’ first answer to the man was to tell him to follow the 10 Commandments as they relate to how we treat other people; Don’t murder anyone, don’t cheat on your wife, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat and give honor to your parents. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Then Jesus told the man something that is never mentioned in the 10 Commandments. Sell everything you have and become a Disciple and follow Jesus. The man had to think on that one and walked away with sorrow because he highly valued his possessions. Six out of seven things he was OK on. In school that would be an 86… definitely passing and above average but in the Kingdom not good enough to go to Heaven. Christians have to put greater value on compassion for the poor than for their personal financial well-being. Jesus after all gave up everything he had to help those in spiritual poverty and we are to be like him. If not then say Adios to eternal life. The only test we’re going to get before the Judgment Day is a self- test and it’s an open book test. Don’t neglect to make use of it.