December 10, 2022 - Matthew 19:20

“The young man said to him, ‘All these I have kept. What do I still lack?’” (Matthew 19:20) Shedd (“The Sin of Omission”): “The fact that [the young man] applied to Christ at all shows that he was not entirely at rest in his own mind. . . . He was afraid that when the earthly life was over, he might not be able to endure the judgment of God.” Shedd describes him: “He was a serious and thoughtful person, though not a pious and holy one. For he did not love God more than he loved his worldly possessions.” Oh my, what an indictment of this young man and, often, of we ourselves! Rightly, with this man, we ought to examine ourselves and, when we discover that our love toward God is not what it should be, let us pray, with David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). And let us remember, when we find ourselves failing, that “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). Remembering this, we will find ourselves singing the words of Augustus Toplady:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

let me hide myself in thee;

let the water and the blood,

from thy wounded side which flowed,

be of sin the double cure;

save from wrath and make me pure. --Augustus Toplady (1776)