Greatness: Matthew 14-20ಮಾದರಿ

What are your most valued accomplishments, highest credentials, proudest moments, or merits you hold dearest to your heart? Isn’t it rewarding to reminisce on these things?

The rich young man came to Jesus with impressive credentials: moral, spiritual, and financial. By all appearances, he was the kind of person we’d want leading and serving in our churches or mentoring our kids. But underneath the clean obedience and spiritual curiosity was a hidden grip on wealth, control, and identity, which Jesus saw immediately.

When the man asks what good deed he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus gently exposes the flaw in the question. The kingdom isn’t earned through credentials or merits, or secured by accomplishments and deeds. It’s not a matter of stacking up on moral or spiritual acts of obedience, but on surrendering what your heart truly treasures. So Jesus gives him the one command he cannot keep, “Sell what you possess… and follow me” (Matthew 19:21, ESV).

The rich man walks away grieved. Grieved because he knew what Jesus was asking. It wasn’t about money or worship; it was about releasing everything he was holding to Jesus. And his hands were full.

God speaks into this same tension in Jeremiah 9, “Let not the wise boast in their wisdom or the rich in their riches… but let the one who boasts boast in this: that they know Me” (Jeremiah 9:23–24, ESV). The currency of heaven is not accomplishment but communion. Not earning, but knowing. Knowing the Lord means letting go of anything that sustains our self-sufficiency. Jesus’ sacrifice speaks to the height of our value, the richness of His love, and the security of our identity.

The gospel offers us a treasure greater than wealth, status, or reputation. It offers us Christ Himself. But we must come with empty hands.

Today, ponder this: What are you holding onto that might be keeping you from fully knowing, embracing and following Jesus?