One can get an incorrect the idea from the story of Jesus’ encounter with the rich, young man. Looking at the story it seems there there are two levels to the spiritual life. First one becomes a commandment keeper and later one “sells what you have, give to the poor and come follow” Jesus. We know this is not what Jesus intends but looking at the initial miscommunication between Jesus and the young man. Jesus objects to being called “good” because he wants the young man, and us, to understand the goodness is not a product that one achieves by commandment keeping or by giving your stuff to the poor. Every kind of spiritual life has one foundation — receiving God’s freely given gift of grace.
