A wealthy young man asked Jesus what was required of him to obtain eternal life. Jesus lovingly invited the young man to sell his riches and follow Him. This lesson will encourage you to learn from the Savior what He would have you do as you seek to better follow Him.
Adapting the lesson content. Teaching ideas found in this manual should be adapted to best meet students’ needs. As prompted by the Holy Ghost, use personal experiences and ideas and be flexible while adapting the lesson material.
Student preparation: Invite students to recall a time when they were grateful to have been corrected by someone. How can helping us see where we can improve be a sign of love?
Possible Learning Activities
Advice on how to improve
Consider modeling the following activity by sharing a personal example using the following questions. Then invite students to do the same with a partner.
Choose something you like to do and that you are good at (for example, a sport, a musical instrument, a hobby, a subject in school, or work). Then honestly evaluate your abilities in that activity and your desire to improve by answering questions such as the following:
What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?
If you could choose any person to observe you and then give you specific advice on how to improve, who would it be? Why?
Invite students to silently follow the next instruction due to its personal nature.
Now ask yourself the same questions again, but this time with your spiritual progress in mind (for example, you could focus on your gospel knowledge, your worthiness, your desires for improvement, or your Christlike attributes).
To encourage and uplift class members, consider allowing two to three minutes for students to point out spiritual strengths or Christlike attributes that they see in other class members. Focus some needed praise especially on those who may have a low opinion of themselves.
In the New Testament, we learn about a young man who decided to seek counsel from the Savior. Read Matthew 19:16–19 to learn about this young man’s question and how the Savior initially responded to him.
How do you think the Savior’s response to this young man applies to our lives as well?
What do you learn about Jesus Christ from His response?
Read and consider marking the question the young man asked that is recorded in Matthew 19:20. Consider rewriting his question in your scriptures using your own words.
President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) taught:
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President Harold B. Lee
Every one of us, if we would reach perfection, must [at] one time ask ourselves this question, “What lack I yet?”
(Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee [2000], 197)
How can asking this question help us better follow Jesus Christ?
How would our efforts to follow the Savior be impacted if we did not ask this question?
Why are Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ best suited to help you learn what you need to change?
The Gospel of Mark adds some important details about Jesus Christ to this account. Read Mark 10:21, looking for evidence of the following truth: Because Jesus Christ loves us, He will help us know what we lack in our efforts to follow Him.
Notice that Mark 10:21 does not mention the Savior vocally expressing His love. Yet Mark wrote that “Jesus beholding him loved him.” Take some time to ponder how Jesus Christ views you and the love that He feels for you.
Consider displaying the first of the following questions and allowing students time to ponder it before responding.
Why is it important to know that Jesus Christ loves those who come to Him for correction?
How are the Savior’s invitations to improve a sign of His love?
What does Ether 12:27 teach about how the Lord can help you?
Read Mark 10:22 to see what the young man chose to do.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–1985) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained some possible consequences of the young man’s decision.
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Elder Bruce R. McConkie
We are left to wonder what intimacies [the young rich man] might have shared with the Son of God, what fellowship he might have enjoyed with the apostles, what revelations and visions he might have received, if he had been able to live the law of a celestial kingdom. As it is, he remains nameless; as it might have been, his name could have been had in honorable remembrance among the saints forever.
Find ways to allow all students to respond to the following question. They could respond through role-playing or by writing in their study journals. Providing opportunities for students to explain why we should follow the Savior can help deepen their own discipleship.
If you could go back in time and talk to this young man before he decided to walk away from the Savior’s invitation, what would you say to him?
Are you willing to ask and obey?
Close your eyes and try to imagine the Savior looking at you with that same love He had for the young man in this account.
Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy extended the following invitation and promise.
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Elder Larry R. Lawrence
I would like to suggest that each of you participate in a spiritual exercise sometime soon, perhaps even tonight while saying your prayers. Humbly ask the Lord the following question: “What is keeping me from progressing?” In other words: “What lack I yet?” Then wait quietly for a response. If you are sincere, the answer will soon become clear. It will be revelation intended just for you.
(Larry R. Lawrence, “What Lack I Yet?” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2015, 35)
What impact do you think accepting Elder Lawrence’s suggestion would have on your life? What impact might not accepting it have?
What impact does a knowledge of Christ’s love for you have on your willingness to ask this question?
Students may benefit from completing the following in their study journals.
Take some time now to ask God what He would have you change in your life. It could be something that you should stop doing, start doing, or do differently. Then reflect on your life and write down thoughts and impressions that come to you. (If your answer does not come quickly, continue to ask over time with a determination to obey the answer when you receive it. God will answer at the right time and in the best way for you.)
Share a personal experience, or invite students to share about a time when they were grateful for loving correction in their life. Consider pointing out ways that correction from God can come (through a family member, through a Church leader, through reading the scriptures, through promptings from the Holy Ghost, and so forth).
Commentary and Background Information
How are the Savior’s invitations to repent a sign of His love?
Elder S. Mark Palmer of the Seventy taught:
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Elder S. Mark Palmer
If we are humble, we will welcome the Lord’s invitations to repent, to sacrifice, and to serve as evidence of His perfect love for us. After all, an invitation to repent is also an invitation to receive the wonderful gift of forgiveness and peace.
Is it good to continuously worry about our shortcomings?
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said:
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Elder Dale G. Renlund
Am I doing enough? What else should I be doing? The action we take in response to these questions is central to our happiness in this life and in the eternities. …
But at the same time, our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do not want us to be paralyzed by continual uncertainty during our mortal journey, wondering whether we have done enough to be saved and exalted.
Mark 10:25. What does “a camel [going] through the eye of a needle” mean?
Some have asserted that the eye of the needle was a small door in the Jerusalem city wall, requiring a camel to be stripped of its load in order to enter. There is no evidence that such a door ever existed. Others have proposed that altering one letter in the Greek text would change the scripture to mean that a rope, not a camel, would have to pass through the eye of a needle. However, when Jesus Christ referred to a camel passing through the eye of a needle, it was likely an example of hyperbole, an intentional exaggeration to teach “that a rich man shall hardly [with difficulty] enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23).
(New Testament Student Manual [Church Educational System manual, 2014], 63)
Mark 10:23–27. Is it hard or even impossible for a rich person to enter heaven?
The Joseph Smith Translation of Mark 10:27 reads, “With men that trust in riches, it is impossible; but not impossible with men who trust in God and leave all for my sake, for with such all these things are possible” (Joseph Smith Translation, Mark 10:26 [in Mark 10:27, footnote a]).
Supplemental Learning Activities
Video
For visual learners, consider showing “Christ and the Rich Young Ruler” (2:25), located at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Customized counsel from God
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that the Savior gave the rich young man a requirement that was “customized to his specific needs and circumstances” (“Meek and Lowly of Heart,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 30).
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can also provide each of us with customized counsel that we need. To show examples of personal, customized counsel that individuals have received from God, consider sharing with students Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy’s talk “What Lack I Yet?” from time code 2:41 to 7:20. This video is located at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The publican and the Pharisee
Invite students to contrast the attitude in prayer of the two men depicted in Luke 18:9–14 and to discuss questions such as the following:
How can our attitude affect our desires to seek counsel and correction?
How can it affect our willingness to accept and act on the counsel we receive from the Lord, the leaders of His Church, our parents, and others?
To receive eternal life, we must be willing to give up whatever the Lord requires of us
Contrast the reaction of the young man in Mark 10:21–22 to others who were asked to make similar sacrifices. Some examples include Lehi (see 1 Nephi 2:2–4); Peter, James, John, and Andrew (see Matthew 4:18–22); Matthew, who is also called Levi (see Luke 5:27–29); Moses (see Hebrews 11:24–27); and faithful people in our day.
In what ways does the Savior fulfill the promise He made as recorded in Matthew 19:29 to those who are willing to sacrifice all that He requires of them?