Jesus Advice to the rich young man.

My friends,

Today I would like to talk about a little story from Bible. A rich young man came running to Jesus and asked him "what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ?".

Jesus replies
Do not commit adultery.
Do not murder.
Do not steal.
Do not bear false witness - don't lie.
Do not defraud.
Honor your father and your mother.

The young man declared
"all these I have kept since I was a boy"

Jesus looks at hims and states
"One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Hearing this the young man became sad and he went away for he was not willing to part from his wealth.

I have sometimes wondered aren't we all like this young man, who run after the next big thing, the next promotion, the next big house, the next big car, the next new influential friend to befriend. In this mad pursuit for material comforts and luxury we sometimes forget the basic teachings of Christ, i.e to be considerate to our brothers and friends in need. Shouldn't we slow down a little bit and return to Christ instead of pursuing these material comforts.

This particular advice from Jesus has confused me , what did he mean by this. As a father of my children is it bad to save for your kids future, is it bad to buy them nice clothes and take them to movies, is it bad to enjoy life. Should I be ashamed of myself when doing all these things.

Please correct me if I am wrong, what I understood from Jesus advice is you should take care of your family first but also should be considerate and helpful to your friends and brothers in need, either monetary or some other help. I would like to know what you think about this passage from Bible. How can we follow Jesus advice to the young man. Are we too self obsessed in our lives going after all these trivial material comforts.

Let's have an open discussion as to what you think about this advice from Jesus to the young man.

Thanks
Nan