You all know someone who just doesn’t seem quite right. Some say may “they have a screw loose,” “elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top,” or “not the sharpest tool in the shed.” It’s funny how we communicate such things to try to say this person seems to be missing something that the majority has. These labels do not necessarily mean lack of intelligence. Many times we can’t quite put our finger on it, but we know something is lacking.Now to turn that around a bit; do you every think of yourself in this way? Do you ever think that you seem to have a lot but something is still missing, something is not quite right? Do you find yourself comparing yourself to others in the worship service your hands are up and their hands are up and you think “Am I doing this right?” Do you open an eye during prayer and see some other person doing the same and you half nod one another in a silent agreement that neither of you have arrived at the point the majority seems to be.

You are not alone. That doesn’t solve your mystery but it is a fact. What is it that you lack that causes you to worry instead of worship, to be preoccupied during preaching or instagramming at the invitation? What is the one thing you lack?

Jesus ran across a young hipster just like that. He had disposable income, he had high position in the family business, and was young man of scruples and morality. But he, like many of us, knew there had to be more. From the outside he seemed to be lacking in nothing, but he felt he was missing something. So he found Jesus who seemed to be one of those that had a lot of followers with a screw loose or disciples who were not the sharpest tool in the shed. He asked Jesus, ” What do I need to do to have a life that lasts forever?” His confidence and position aloud him the boast of being a person who is good and moral. He was likable dude who treated people right and was respected and admired by friends and family.

Jesus said you only lack ONE thing. Wow! Only one? The last thing on the list to have it all! How much does it cost? How much time will it take? Just one thing Jesus? Do tell?

Give up everything and you will have the ONE thing you lack. Well that’s not gonna work. What? That’s crazy! Addition by subtraction? Sell off the the things I own then give that money to the poor? Nope. Have a nice day.

What’s the point? Do you see it? Do you see the irony? Do you see the hypocrisy? Rich Young Ruler means he had money he did not make and position he did not earn. Yet this young man felt it was his right to keep all these things as his instead of giving it away to someone who “did not make it or earn it.” In this story I would love to say that I identify with Jesus or that I take the perspective of the disciples, yet I must confess I am the entitled selfish spoiled brat.What’s mine is mine Jesus! My money, my family, my time, my emotions, my thoughts, my friends, my career-I earned it !

I wonder if God has ever said, “Did ya now?” Not in so many words, but I do have to be reminded by my Father that nothing I have is mine and every breath I have is borrowed. I am a manager not an owner. He is the owner! He is the creator! And daily I have to surrender what I believe to be my rights to his will. I have no rights God reminds me. That the day I accepted his broken and spilled out Son as my savior that I relinquished my rights that I never had in the first place.

It’s not yours! You didn’t earn it! Your rights can not be violated if you don’t have any in the first place. Eternal life came with the highest price that you nor I had to pay. Jesus loves us and wants everything for us. But we have to surrender everything to him, the irony is that nothing we think we have is ours in the first place.

Do you identify with this guy? What will your response be? Will you walk away and lack or surrender everything to Jesus and have it all? One thing you lack.