Wednesday, June 03, 2015

The Hard Lessons pt. 2

So we just read about how Jesus let a lot of disciples quit (The Hard lessons pt.1). He just let them go. Things got hard, and they just chose to walk away from eternity because of a hard lesson. Woah.

This leads me to my next thought.

In Matthew 19:24 Jesus said to his disciples "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." This is a lesson he was trying to teach the disciples after an encounter with a rich young man who desired eternal life (to know Jesus). He was asking what he had to do to get eternal life. Jesus told him that even after he honored all the commandments that he was still lacking something. Sell your possessions. Give up the one thing in your life you trust in the most. The most comforting thing you have, the thing you have that you feel valued by. Go, give it up.

vs 22 "When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth."

Jesus just let this kid walk away from him sad.

Doesn't that go against everything you feel like you know about Jesus? Doesn't He go after that 1 lost sheep? Doesn't He love everyone?

Stop the presses. Jesus didn't chase that kid down. He didn't run to him, or put His arm around him and comfort him, saying "maybe you'll feel like giving up that idol one day, just come along." No. Jesus immediately goes and teaches us a hard lesson, and let the kid leave, sad.

Being a Christian and following God means you surrender it ALL. We cannot love God with all our hearts and yet keep our ______ to ourselves. (name your vice).

Jesus teaches us hard lessons because God is Holy. Because he LOVES us and wants to be with us for eternity (not just feel happy on earth).  If we want to be with Him for all eternity, we must be willing to give up everything to gain EVERYTHING. Capital, EVERYTHING meaning His eternal love, His presence and the benefits of the Creator of the Universe! And the sobering truth is, not everyone will finish the race.

There are many people out there today that will try to make those hard lessons easier, try to make that eye of the needle bigger, so people don't feel rejected or sad. Jesus doesn't need our help. He drew that line in the sand. He loves with a perfect and holy love, and we must love others that way too... but we must Know Jesus, and learn these hard lessons so we can live like Him and with Him for eternity.

The Hard Lessons pt. 1

John 6:60 "On hearing it [the message Jesus taught], many of his disciples said "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"... "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."

Woah. These were disciples. Not just random people hearing Jesus for the first time. They had been with JESUS. In the flesh. God. The epitome of Love. Jesus. Yet they turned back and no longer followed him. After one hard lesson. OUCH!

I'm not gonna lie. When I read passages like this, they get to me. That is tough! How can people, who are considered disciples, so easily turn away from Jesus? They aren't just church hopping. They aren't just taking their ball and going home. They are walking away from... God. Jesus just let those disciples quit.

Why would they quit?

  • A lot of them may have realized He wasn't who they thought He was. They were expecting the Messiah to come in the form of a conquering King. Jesus wasn't who they expected. Following Him didn't live up to their expectations.
  • A lot of them might have felt like their requests and needs weren't getting met (selfish maybe?).
  • A lot of them might have thought His words were offensive and had trouble understanding things like faith vs. deeds or what He was trying to get across.


It's so easy to be tempted to turn away when Jesus' lessons are hard. Will you give up? Will you ignore what you don't like about Jesus and what he challenges us in? Will you reject the one true God?

Have courage. Jesus teaches us hard lessons sometimes, that's nothing new. It's so easy in this day and age to give into the easy way out, to make excuses and reason to yourself why "giving up everything to follow Jesus didn't really mean "everything""... or did it. He is Holy, set apart, and has to set us apart so we can be with Him.

... verse 67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

When hard lessons in life happen, which perspective will you have? "there is no where else to go but with you Jesus" or "this is too hard, I quit". Jesus is the Holy One of God. I hope I can walk with Him through the hard lessons of life.

Read more in The Hard Lessons pt. 2