What Lack I Yet?
When the rich young man approached Jesus, he asked, “What lack I yet?” I think the reason that the Savior recommended, out of a sense of deep understanding and with great love and compassion, for the young man to sell all that he had and give to the poor, and also the reason why the Savior said that it is very hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, is because for the man who has everything, he does not need God or the Atonement or repentance or improvement of any kind. When they built the tower of Babel, they did so because they were trying to eliminate the need for God. They wanted a foolproof way to get into heaven, a way that did not require pain or suffering of any kind. But if we’re never in trouble, then we don’t need any help. And if we don’t need any help, then we don’t need God. None of us like to suffer. If we could get rid of pain from all sources, if we could get rid of pain for good, many of us would be tempted to do so. But as the rich young man illustrated, accumulating wealth and power and influence, or in other words, building up a tower of babel to protect us from any and all forms of pain or discomfort, lulls us into a false sense of completion. We’ve got money, we’ve got fame and fortune. We don’t need anything. What lack we yet? What could God or anybody else do for us to make our lives better? It doesn’t really matter if it’s money or prestige or a self-help guru or a political ideology, if there is something in our lives that has us convinced that by clinging to it we can avoid pain and disappointment, then it is stopping our progress. Following the Savior does not mean that we avoid pain, nor that we seek out pain, but that we overcome pain. Many of the Israelites in Jesus’s day thought that the coming of the Messiah would mean all of their problems would be taken from them. But just as God would not take away the bitter cup from His beloved Son, He will not take away our opportunities for growth and humility and grace. One of my favorite book series is called the Stormlight Archive, and there’s this Godlike, diabolical character named Odium, and the one man who is destined to oppose him is named Dalinar. And just when Dalinar is at his very lowest, when the pain is so unbearable that he would do anything to be rid of it, Odium swoops in and he offers to take away all his pain, and thus advance his evil machinations, and Odium starts to gloat because he can’t imagine anyone would pass him up on this incredible offer, but Dalinar says “YOU CANNOT HAVE MY PAIN!” Dalinar knew that there is no growth, no advancement without pain. It’s like in Finding Nemo, when Marlin cries out that he promised nothing would ever happen to his son, and then Dory points out that if he kept his promise, then nothing would ever happen to Nemo, nothing bad, sure, but nothing good either. I know we would all like to never have to feel pain again, but without pain, without that need, that lack, then there is no striving to become better than we are, no need to reach out for grace or even to accept it when it’s offered to us.
