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Do you always want to be the best? Is there something in your life that you want to accomplish, but can never finish? No matter how hard we try, there is always something else that can be done. We want perfection. The house we own must encapsulate our dreams. Our children will attend the best schools and excel perfectly in their talents. Even in our own selves, we desire to reach for perfection. Nearly my entire day is driven to please someone or obtain a goal.

Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

 “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.” - New Living Translation [Matthew 19]

Asking The Right Question? 

This  is the story of a successful man wanting to know what he needs to do in order to get into heaven. We all know this type of person whom treats life like it is a giant checklist. The majority of people like to focus on Jesus’ answer, but I want to focus on the question.

Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?

We all know what this man is asking. What does he need to get into heaven. Take out eternal life and insert love, happiness, laughter, or contentment. Wouldn’t that question sound a little knaive? How do you define happiness and how much love do you want?

Jesus answered his question to follow the commandments.  He knew the man had asked the wrong question, but Jesus followed the path of the man’s reasoning. If you want to have eternal life by doing good deeds, then follow the commandments. If you want to do something to become happy then act friendly towards others.

More Please

Our desires don’t end there. My two year old son has just learned how to say the word more. He drags out the o and has to dip his chin to say it, but one cookie, jump or tickle is never enough. He wants moore.

We are all like my son. We always want to do the next thing, increase our happiness, or accomplish more responsibilities for status. The same goes for the man in the story. After Jesus told him to follow the commandments, he replied “Then What?”

Limits and Check Lists

At the end of the story, the man could not obtain the perfection he was seeking so he gave up. Jesus told him that if he wanted perfection then give away everything he had and follow Jesus as he healed the sick. Of course, giving away all of our posessions wasn’t the point.  He knew from the first question that the man did not understand. The man focused on a goal that continuously grows and there is nothing that we can do to mark these things off our list. Do you want success? How much does it take to be successful? Do you want balance? How much of the world must be balanced? We can put limits to how much we desire, but we will never be able to add these things to our bag of accomplishments.

The Finish Line 

Is this all to say that success and happiness are evil. I could not be a Christian if I  followed this logic. The man in the story was wanting to obtain Eternal Life. These things are all good as long as they are not the Finish Line. Jesus said that we need to first seek to develop a world where God’s inherent good artwork can be seen from creation. This is our finish line.  My role as a father is to develop an unselfish and servant-oriented environment in the family. My role as a stranger is to be friendly and helpful. When we put this as our finish line then success, happiness and contentment become the refreshing water along the run.

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