Jesus. The things he had and
held on to came in between. When they no longer came in to separate, then,
and only then, was he ready to get "in behind" and "follow" along the
"same road." For this is the friendship road. Only friends are allowed
here, inner friends, those who come in by that gateway. There must be the
personal touch. Things that stand in the way of that must be straightened
out.

It was rather a startling answer. The young man was startled tremendously.
The way to come in is first to go out. The way to get is first to give.
The way to buy what you want is to sell what you have. That is to say, the
way for this young man to get what he was so eager for was to get rid of
what he already had. And yet it wasn't getting rid of the things the
Master was thinking about, but getting rid of the thing in him that
wanted the things, getting rid of their hold upon him. Our Lord Jesus
wanted, and wants, free men, emptied men. He wants the strength in the man
that the emptying and selling process gives. This is the laboratory where
the unsaltiness is being burned out, and the new salty saltiness being
generated, put in.

This young fellow couldn't stand the test. So many can't. No, I'm getting
the words wrong. He wouldn't stand it; so many won't. The slavery of
_things_ was too much. The thing in him that wanted the things was
stronger than the thing that wanted the true life. He was too weak to make
that "go" decision. He belonged to the weakly fellowship of the saltless
ones. They are not wholly saltless, but that's the chief thing that marks
them. It's a long-lived fellowship, continuing to this day, with a large
membership in good and regular standing.

I think the real trouble with this fine-grained lovable young man was in
his eyes, the way they looked, what they saw. It was a matter of seeing
things in true perspective. He didn't get a good look at the Man he asked
his question of. He was looking so intently at the _things_ that he
couldn't get the use of his eyes for a good look at the Man. This is a
very common eye-trouble. He was all right outward, toward his fellows, but
he wasn't all right upward toward the Father.

And yet even that statement must be changed. For a man cannot be right
with his fellows who is not right with God. When God doesn't have the
passion of the heart, our fellows don't have all they should properly have
from us; there is a lack. The common law may be kept, the pounds and yards