Hard Words From A Soft Heart

“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” (Mr 10:21 AV)

 

Never doubt God’s love even if we have to hear hard things.  This man was close to eternal life.  He had followed the law to the letter.  However, one thing remained a problem.  He was guilty of materialism.  He prized his possessions more than he prized eternal life.  The problem, revealed at the end of the verse, was his inability to completely surrender to God in all things.  This does not mean salvation is a matter of giving up what we hold dear.  This is not the point.  The point was the rich man boasted about how well he followed the law yet he could not forgo the accumulation of things.  He may have covered his sin in the temporary offerings of Old Testament law, but he still harbored lust towards things he could not have.  The point of our devotions this morning is the underlined phrase.  Even though the rich man was close to eternal life, he was not close enough.  He had to hear some hard truths.  Jesus, in His omniscience, knew it would not go over well.  But because He loved him, He told him what he needed to hear and not what he wanted to hear.

I know we have all heard these words: “I know you may not want to hear this, but…”.   Many times I have been in a hospital room when a diagnosis arrives.  It is not pleasant.  I have stayed and comforted those who were faced with bad news.  Even though the good news may solve the bad news, it is the bad news that is remembered most.  In some of those cases, the bad news was completely reversible.  All this patient had to do was to change their lifestyle.  There was one fella who was always hooked to an oxygen machine.  He has to supplement his breathing during the night as well.  Dry air was a big problem for him.  The funny thing is, he was a smoker.  He owned his own business and because of the high-stress level he suffered, smoking a cigarette was the only way he could think of to relieve the stress.  It was not uncommon to visit with him and notice many cigarette butts at his back door.  Repeatedly, the doctors and nurses told him he had to quit smoking or it was going to take his life.  He would quit for a while, but then something would trigger his stress and out to the back porch he would go.  They were telling him because they cared.  His family continuously told him to quit smoking.  His pastor and church family got on his case about it.  Why?  Because they loved him!

God does the same thing.  He tells us over and again we need to address something.  He is not yelling at us.  He is warning us.  We are short of His best for us.  He sends us a word through the Bible, the minister, and others to encourage us to forsake that which causes us harm.  He does not tell us these things because He is trying to limit our happy existence.  He tells us because He loves us.  Truth is hard to hear sometimes.  When we hear an inconvenient truth, let us consider the heart behind it.  It might come from a close friend or confidant.  It might come from an authority figure.  It will most assuredly come by the word of God either by preaching or reading.  The truth hurts sometimes.  That is the nature of truth against our own natures.  The truth can hurt.  But the heart of Jesus can never be in doubt.  He looked upon the rich man and loved him.  He does the same for us.