The Bible retells the story of the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus asking what good thing he must do to have eternal life (Matthew 19:16). Jesus responds by telling the young ruler that he must keep the commandments. He then asks Jesus which commandments, and Jesus states many of the Ten Commandments. The rich young ruler replies that he has kept all these commandments from his youth, so what does he lack (Matthew 19:17-20)? Jesus then tells the young ruler to sell all that he has, give it to the poor, and come follow Him. The young ruler goes away sad (Matthew 19:21-22).
The rich young ruler is like many people. He is a good person who believes in God, but is not going to be saved. Like many people, he is close to salvation, but not willing to go the final step. The young ruler was looking for an action or rule to keep in order to obtain eternal life. He had asked, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?".
What Jesus was asking the young ruler to do was to give his heart. The ruler was an honest, good person, but his heart was on his riches. In reality, the young ruler wasn't keeping the first commandment which is to love the Lord with all your heart and soul and might (Deuteronomy 6:4). Since his heart was on his riches, he couldn't give his heart to the Lord. Like many today, who are good moral people and believe, they are so close to eternal life, but they are not there yet because they haven't given Jesus their hearts.
It is true that we must believe to be saved, and there are commandments which we must obey, but above all, the Lord wants our hearts.
