Hard Words

Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me Luke 18:22

Has Jesus ever told you to do something that you found "hard" to do? I am not talking about something He told you to do in Sunday School class, or something He gave you in a sermon you heard. But I mean something He spoke to you personally; something He dropped right into your heart.

I can tell you from experience that if Jesus has never said anything "hard" to you, then you may have missed many of His words. He says many things to us that we may listen to, but never really hear. Many times Jesus adds the phrase "he that has an ear, let him hear." He said this to emphasize the importance of understanding the Word of God.

Jesus spoke these words to a rich young man that mentioned to Jesus his desire to follow him. But when Jesus told him to sell all his goods and give it to the poor, he found those words totally unrealistic. He did not understand that Jesus was trying to show him the way to greater riches. I don’t believe that Jesus was asking the young man to dissolve his whole company in a week and go broke, but whatever Jesus required was too hard for the young man to receive.

Jesus really cared about this young man. But when he turned and walked away, Jesus let him go. He did not try to persuade him or offer him any great promises. He simply told him to "sell all thou hast and follow me." Jesus knew that His word would never return to Him void.

How about you? Has Jesus told you to do something that you consider extremely hard? Do you know that there are certain types of music that Jesus told you delete from your music collection? Do you know that there are relationships and crowds that Jesus doesn’t want you involved in? Has He told you to be more honest with your parents or to make better entertainment choices? Yet you are still involved in the same situations. You are like the young man in this scene. You consider it too hard to give up what you consider important.

Let me assure you of something my friend. God knows that sooner or later His word will bear fruit. The terrible thing is that sometimes we prevent it from bearing fruit in our own lives. No matter how hard we think things are to give up, Jesus will gives us the grace to make all the adjustments we need. If we respond to His Word with positive reassurance and true devotion, we will discover that things may not be as "hard" as we think they are.

By: Edmund Brown