16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,'[c] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Matthew 19:16-22

This is actually a question many people in the West ask, what must I do to get to Heaven?

The answer to the rich man shocked him because it wasn’t what he expected.

Jesus knew it would be the man’s stumbling block. He wanted wealth more than eternity. We laugh at the comparison because there really is none, but many have had greater causes than wealth ahead of God: environmental causes, humanitarian causes, and even noble spiritual causes.

None of them are as important as faith in Christ.

Yes, the rich man wanted to know what he could do but didn’t like the answer at all.

Starting back in the early 1900s, many preachers and public speakers have said it, so it’s important to repeat its truth, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

The main thing for the wealthy, the poor, President, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the atheist, the agnostic, the Muslim, the Buddhist, the dictator, the middle class, the outcast, the wanderer, the aimless, the hopeless, the children, the adults, and everyone in between is Jesus Christ.