18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For 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.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
- Jerram Barrs, Learning Evangelism from Jesus, p. 77
Once again, as we read this story, we see the need to help people uderstand themselves. The rich young ruler is an earnest seeker, but he does not see into his own heart with any clarity; thus, Jesus speaks to the young man with the purpose of helping him understand the true nature of his heart. This is not an easy task for us to replicate. To do this requires three things: first, we need to have shown such care for people that they will allow us to get to know them well; second, we have to be deeply interested in people, willing to spend time developing close relationships; and third, we should be ready to count the cost of what it will mean for a person to open his or her heart to us. Jesus was ready to give his life to this young man, to have him come and follow him. What this underlines is that none of these points we are making as we seek to learn from Jesus will give us some kind of cost-free evangelistic method. Christ gave himself fully to those who came to him to learn the truth. While our efforts will always be a po0r imitation of Jesus' perfection, we are to give ourselves to those whom we seek to lead to Jesus.
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