I was studying this morning and I came across this Oswald Chambers quote taken from Jesus' conversation with the rich young ruler.

Good Master, what good thing shall I do? (to demonstrate my worthiness of eternal life?). The great lesson that Jesus taught him was that it is not anything he must do, but a relationship he must be willing to get into. A voluntary abandoning of property and riches and a deliberate, devoted attachment to Jesus Christ. What are we depending on that is keeping us from this attachment to Christ? God sanctifies what we give to Him!

As I read it, it is the same message as Tim Keller conveys. Total abandonment of everything that I find comfort in instead of God which could include riches, identity, idols, what I hallow, call it by any name, but these things keep me from the fullness or deepness of my relationship with Jesus. The rich young ruler wanted to make it about his "do." Jesus told him to "do" something - get rid of everything that he depends upon -- but it wasn't because he needed to do something to gain eternal life, the doing was only necessary in order to remove his love for something other than God. That's the reason we "do." Those are the only works that count.

What do I hold back from Him? What keeps me from this total surrender? The surest indication of the things that mute my relationship with Him is the time that I am upset or anxious or stressed. My emotions are the tell-tale sign. The loves of my heart are conveyed in these heated emotions. If I honestly ask myself, what am I after? what am I not getting that has me so riled up? the answer to these questions is the thing that my heart tells me "I must have." This is the very thing that I desire more than God at that moment. This is the thing that is keeping me from totally surrendering. This is my love instead of my God (James 4:1-8).

To know God is to have a personal, intimate relationship with Him. Anything less is not truly knowing Him.