Jesus Cared--Enouth to Offer "tough Love"

What Did Jesus Do?

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said…
Mark 10.21

…the truth, as hard as it was for him (The rich young ruler) to hear it. And even harder for the rich young ruler to do it. For the agape love of Jesus for the rich young man did not permit the Lord to let the man off the hook; the man’s love for money and material wealth stood squarely in the way of his entering the kingdom, and Jesus told him straight. Jesus put it plainly, saying in so many words, that arms that refused to lay down worldly riches could never receive heavenly ones. It’s still a tough thing for those who have believed the world’s lies that, “you can have it ALL!” to hear.

When we say “Christ IS All!” we are not diminishing the role of the Father and the Holy Spirit, but suggesting that if any of us wants to work out some kind of “Jesus and ______” (Fill in the blank with whatever you refuse to give up for the Lord). “Can’t I have Jesus and my adulterous affair?” “Can’t I have Jesus and intentionally cheat a little on my taxes?” “Can’t I have Jesus and hate Arabs, blacks, Jews, liberals, conservatives, or anyone else that I can’t stand?” Nope. Sorry, there are not any “Jesus and _______” deals for anyone.

Of course, there are all kinds of “have it all” promises made every day. “You can be an All-American and never have to go to class.” “You can eat the outrageously sized portions in our restaurant’s ads and still be as skinny as the people in our commercials.” “You can smoke our cigarettes and ignore the health risks; drink our booze and never worry about what it’s doing to your liver; look at our pornography all day and never have it corrupt your soul.” And don’t think that there are not lots of folks today who, like that rich young ruler who came to Jesus, can claim they have observed God’s commandments in every respect, with the one exception of their “and ______”, and imagine that’s good enough to get into heaven.

Thankfully, Jesus has not stopped tough loving sinners like us. He still won’t allow any of us to get away with negotiating some kind of compromise with whatever it is that gets between us and the Father. Sadly, people still turn their back on the loving Savior, and walk away from the kingdom, preferring to cling to the one thing their heart delights in more than God. The one true hope for all of us, because none of us is really strong enough to master our besetting sin, is that what is impossible for us is God’s bread and butter.

When we are faced with how to love a family member or friend into the kingdom of God, we have to care enough, and be strong enough, to resist any urge to let them get away with Jesus and ________, offering them the tough love of God’s agape. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4