When we want something for ourselves, we usually go to the person that we think may help us obtain whatever it is we are looking for. That’s what this rich young man in the gospel did; he wanted eternal life, which is to say, he wanted a good relationship w/ God, to be friends w/ God. So he asks the one whom he knows can give him the answer to what he must do to get that: Jesus. Since he was rich, we might guess that at one time he might have asked someone who was wealthy, “What must I do to become wealthy myself?”
I recently saw a picture of myself that was taken 20 years ago…and I hardly recognized myself! I was so thin in this picture that I was shocked at how I look now in comparison. So I ask my Doctor, a fit man about my age, “What must I do to lose weight?” and every time I ask, he 1st says to me: “You need to exercise!” & I tell him I’ve been doing that for years. So he says, then there’s one more thing you must do: stop eating the potato chips & all the wrong foods!
But then I, like the rich young man, walk away sad because I know that to achieve what I want, I have to give up something I really like & that’s hard to do. What do you need to give up that keeps you from a better relationship with God? The rich young man in the gospel walked away sad, even though he was just as wealthy when he walked away from Jesus as he was when he first approached him. Why? Because his wealthy wasn't really making him happy. He wanted something more.