What Do I Still Lack?

READ: PSALM 23; MATTHEW 19:16-30

The rich young man approaches Jesus with one question on his mind: “What good must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). When Jesus tells him to obey the law given to Moses for all of Israel, the man is confident he has kept all the law. Yet he knows he’s still missing something, so he asks, “What do I still lack?” (verse 20).

We all ask ourselves this question in different forms. What am I missing? Why doesn’t anyone like me? Why am I not good enough? How am I such a failure? Why can’t I do anything right?

However, Jesus’s response to all these questions is simple. In essence, it’s like He’s saying, “What you value more than Me is stopping you from resting in Me.” It is only in Jesus that you are called a son or daughter of the Most High God, only in Jesus that you are fully known and fully loved. It is only in resting in Jesus—and what He did—that we find true peace and fulfillment.

What do we still lack? Once we know Jesus, we lack nothing. Jesus loves us, and He delivered Himself up for us on the cross and rose from the grave— providing the path to eternal life. Therefore, we have everything in Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). • Samuel Dennis

• What do you feel you are lacking in your life? Where do you tend to go looking for ultimate fulfillment?

• Jesus is the only one who can truly fulfill our wants and needs. He invites us to come to Him, just as we are, and trust Him with our lives—following His gentle leadership (Matthew 11:28-30). In your own life, what might it look like to run to Jesus instead of to created things?

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 (CSB)