Mark 10:17-22

Here is the story when a young man comes unto Jesus and asks Him what he must to do obtain eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep all the commandments, to which the man replies that he does.

"Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross and follow me.

"And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions."

What happened here! This man had such a great opportunity. Jesus, the very Son of God, gave him specific instructions on how to gain eternal bliss -- He even clarified that he would have treasure in heaven if he made the sacrifice now. So why did the man not do it?

The answer is simple: A lack of faith. If the young rich man could peer into his future, to gaze upon the celestial kingdom, he would sell all his possessions including the shirt off his own back to gain it. But he could not see it for himself, so he did not follow Christ's instructions.

This is a mistake EVERY SINGLE ONE of us makes. No one is following Christ as we ultimately could. But there is so much more we could do. A prime example is family prayer and scripture study. I believe very few families in the church actually do this and do it just as the prophets direct us. But why? It is because it is difficult and the rewards do not appear to outweigh the costs.

But how can we change our attitudes and follow Christ?

We need to have faith in His WORD only. It does help to have an excitement for the reward, but all it really takes is unconditional trust.

Every seminary, Sunday school, and young women class has done the object lesson where one student is blindfolded and another seeing student must lead them through a difficult obstacle course by voice only. The blindfolded student must have unconditional trust in their commander and realize that they can see so much more than them. Because of this, they should not hesitate or question the direction for a second.

We must remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can see all and desire to lead us through that maze to safety if we but listen.