‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.”’
‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’
Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Mark 10:17-22 NIV)
Last week, I wrote about Jesus’ lack of concern in offending people when it came to telling the truth. But one thing I wanted to emphasize is Jesus told the truth because He loved people. This passage makes that abundantly clear.
Sometimes people want to use truth as a bludgeon, as a way to beat others down. What they say is true, but the motive behind their words is to injure or malign, so as to lift themselves up. We see this often in our society, but this is not what Jesus did. He spoke truth to people because He loved them. He told this wealthy man to give away all he had, not because he held a grudge against rich people, but because he saw the man’s wealth had become his idol. His possessions possessed him. The only remedy was for the man to free himself from them. It was a truth he could not swallow.
And that’s the way it often goes when we tell the truth, even when love is our only motive. People will reject it and sometimes be offended. But if our only motive is love, that we truly want what is in the best interests of the person, then regardless of their reaction, we can walk away with a clear conscience.
Today, remember the motive for Jesus telling the truth was simply that He loved people. When you desire to share the truth of the Word with others, if that is not your motive, it would be better to refrain from saying anything at all.
© Jim Musser 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment