“If thou wouldest be perfect, go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.”

The rich young man who approached Jesus was aware that he lacked something - - something his money could not buy. He had gained great success in life; now he wanted to gain eternal life. Yet he was uncertain how to achieve his goal. When Jesus told him to observe the commandments, the young man claimed he had. Then, to his chagrin, Jesus said something unexpected, something radical:

“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”

Rather than part with all his possessions, the rich, young man parted with Jesus. We’re left to wonder what ever became of him; and, more importantly, what’s to become of us here in America, the wealthiest nation on earth?

Our identities are so tied up in what we own that we proudly display brand name labels on everything we wear. Our self-worth and our net worth are so tightly linked that we confuse quantity with quality. We shop until we drop, or until we run out of closet space. Then we rent storage space.

The hold that our possessions have on us can be seen in the growth of public storage lockers. Today, more than 11 million American households rent storage space, an increase of 90 percent since 1995.

We all live in Target’s Greatland where shoppers are led to believe they can “expect more…pay less.”

But that’s not what the Lord said. He told the rich, young man to expect less in the way of material goods and to pay more attention to the needs of the poor; only then would he be free to follow Jesus.