“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:21-22).

To the rich young man, “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:21-22).

Jesus’ response to the young man wasn’t sugar coated, or gentle, in that, He told the man to sell his possessions and give to the poor, and in response, the man went away sorrowful. What would we say about Jesus today, if we had been there that day and overheard the exchange?

“You were too harsh Lord asking him to sell everything,” or, “You turned a soul away from yourself!” Then we might go so far as to instruct Jesus about what it means to love and probably throw in something about judging.

This is the kind of counsel, the voice of reason and compromise, we often rely on today to win souls for Jesus, but Jesus didn’t use this tactic with the young man that day (Matthew 19:16-22). Jesus really didn’t use these kinds of tactics with anyone else, and as far as I recall, the apostles didn’t either. Maybe our I’ll idea of love has become shortsighted. Maybe we rely too much on our own understanding and not enough on God. The truth will set us free (John 8:32).

“We” means me; “we” means you; “we” means us.

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