While listening to conference this weekend and during my
scripture study in Jesus the Christ I
have heard the scripture Matt 19:20-21 several times. The scriptures says, “The
young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell
that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:
and come and follow me” (bold and italics added).
I feel that the young man in this scripture did not as Christ
this question to challenge the Savior, but he truly asked because of a sincere
desire to know what he needed to do better. The fact that he asked “what lack I” shows that he must have felt
something was missing, that he was not whole, complete, or perfected yet. And Christ perceiving this responded appropriately, “If thou wilt be perfect…”
One of my goals recently has been to seek the kingdom of God
in all that I do. Although I do not have large amounts of worldly possessions like
the young man in this scripture I realized that there are activities in my life
that are less-than-productive. When I
ask the question “what lack I yet” while praying I normally find something that
I could be using my time better, and, often I feel overwhelmed like the young man;
I know what I need to change is going to be difficult. This doesn’t have to be
the case, however. We can know that the Savior wants us to improve and be perfected
in him.
We all should ask
on a regular basis, “what lack I yet”. I believe that as we do this we
demonstrate humility, but we should also learn from the young man and recognize
that the Lord will likely ask us to do something difficult. We should especially
ask “what lack I yet” during this conference weekend. I know as we seek counsel
from the Lord and strive to do His will, we will come closer to the Kingdom of
Heaven and the perfection that is our goal.
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