Christ and the Rich Man

Today, in our Sunday School Lesson, we were taught about the story of the

rich man who asked Christ how to obtain eternal life.

The instructor displayed the painting shown above, by Heinrich Hoffman. This painting always reminds me of my friend Kirstin. I remember walking into her room one day during college, and she was posting it on her wall. She'd just returned from a semester in Spain, and was unpacking some things for her desk and walls. I asked her about it, and I'll never forget her response. She said, "I think this is one of the most memorable lessons from the New Testament, at least for me. The fact that Christ would tell him to give his riches unto the poor, and that the young man just couldn't do it . . . it is a huge lesson to me, and a reminder to search my life for things that may be holding me back from true devotion to Christ."

I will never forget that conversation, nor will I forget Kirstin's good example to me. Whenever I see this painting, I am reminded of a close friend who is striving to have no limits to her sacrifice and devotion to the gospel. And I recommit to doing the same.