I'm convinced that the ruler walked away, not because of his money, but because of his pride. He thought he was good enough. He was expecting an "atta boy" from Jesus and Jesus told him that he wasn't yet accomplished. The ruler needed to rely on Jesus' mercy rather than his own goodness.
The church has done a good job of teaching us to be "good" or not "bad" at least. We know not to cuss or drink or smoke or call people names or hate our neighbor and we are good at charity. God-fearing Christians are pretty good at emulating the rich young ruler. The church has done a lousy job of teaching us to be reliant on Grace alone. We are too busy being good sometimes.
I lean towards the ruler nat wanting to give up the money, but I can't argue with you. Pride was probably mixed in there. I can definately see the "atta boy" expectation. But we are in total agreement with that the rich ruler needed to rely on mercy rather than his own goodness.
The church has done a good job of teaching us to be "good" or not "bad" at least. We know not to cuss or drink or smoke or call people names or hate our neighbor and we are good at charity. God-fearing Christians are pretty good at emulating the rich young ruler. The church has done a lousy job of teaching us to be reliant on Grace alone. We are too busy being good sometimes.
Good points. Unfortunately, today, too many churches are now failing in even what they were once successful in. I fully agree with you on the iddues about Christians being too busy being "good". I realized recently in my own walk that I was so busy battling against my fleshly desires, trying to be a "good" christian, that I had strayed from my relatiosnship with God.