^{Matthew 19: 16-22}

¹⁶ Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

¹⁷ So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸ He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ¹⁹ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁰ The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept ^[g]from my youth. What do I still lack?”

²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

This young man was sincere in his heart when he approached Jesus with such a genuine question. When he informed Jesus that he was morally an upright man by keeping all of the God’s commands from a very young age, he sure expected Jesus to applaud him for his efforts. His plight begs the question: why isn’t being a moral idealist just enough? He indeed felt that he was still lacking something despite his obedience to the moral law. His emptiness is what drove him to ask Jesus this question.

Great thinkers, philosophers, scientists have all asked this question. In their quest to find the answer, they have experimented with various behaviors, reasonings, philosophies, etc., only to come to nought. Those that found their answer in the Bible, found the ‘ideal’ they were searching. Those that didn’t find their answer were lost or confused. Every other religion or ‘ism’ strives to answer that question but still come up wanting. Only in Christ can be found the ‘ideal’ that we have been searching for.

Being morally upright is beneficial not only to people around the person but to self as well. There is no guilt or condemnation because in the person’s heart, they know that they didn’t hurt their neighbor and they have been pure in their own thoughts and actions. However, the gnawing on the spirit arises when the morally upright person is considering their relationship with their Creator, when they try to figure out what their purpose is on this earth.

C. S. Lewis in his book ‘Mere Christianity’ explains at length about morality: “Some people prefer to talk about moral ‘ideals’ rather than moral rules and about moral ‘idealism’ rather than moral obedience. Now it is, of course true that moral perfection is an ‘ideal’ in the sense that we cannot achieve it. In that sense every kind of perfection is, for us humans, an ideal… but there is another sense in which it is very misleading to call moral perfection an ideal… But it is dangerous to describe a man who tries very hard to keep the moral law as a ‘man of high ideals’, … It might lead you to become a prig and to think you were rather a special person who deserved to be congratulated on his ‘idealism’.”

He further explains using an analogy of a musical band. “Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for: what course the whole fleet ought to be on: what tune the conductor of the band wants it to play.”

Is our moral living harmonious with fellow saints and in tune with God’s purposes? Striving for morality is good. However, it is not the end of it all. Our moral uprightness is not the way to eternity but Christ alone. How in tune are we with God’s will? How is the Master Conductor conducting our lives for His glory? Are we obedient to this Ideal Master? Or are we seeking our own path and falling out of sync, only to end up frustrated like the young man in Matthew 19? He was asked to give up one thing that was dear to him and follow Jesus. Alas! he couldn’t part with it and obey God’s call. Is God asking us to obey His call and are we finding excuses to achieve moral idealism in our own way?

Dear Saint of God, let us continue to strive to have high moral standards as prescribed by our Heavenly Father. However, let us not lose sight of our ‘Ideal’ – Jesus Christ, who actually showed us how to live. Live a life of moral uprightness, live in harmony with others, but above all, live in obedience to God’s call, living out His purposes, all for His glory. May God help you as you strive for that kind of ‘idealism’.

Reference:

Lewis. C.S. “Mere Christianity”. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1952.