Blog

by Chad Koons

A loving God wouldn’t do that! Shouldn’t Jesus have tried harder?! I was astounded when I realized what was going on here, it changed the way that I see God’s interactions with mankind.

In Mark 10:17-31, the “Rich Young Ruler” ran up to Jesus and fell on his knees before Him, famously asking him a question. They had a brief discussion before Jesus dropped some hard truth on the man, causing him to leave. While the obvious point in this story is about who gets into God’s Kingdom and the correcting of Jewish teaching regarding it all, that’s not what I want to highlight.

There is something absolutely astonishing about this event, where Jesus does not behave as most of us would expect Him to. Once you see it, it changes your perspective on God’s dealings with man and thus our dealings with one another.

“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him…”

In His love and wisdom, Jesus was flawless as always. “You lack one thing.” Jesus went on to give him instruction. “Come follow Me.” Jesus even extended the invitation. In one masterful stroke, Jesus had revealed the man’s heart, corrected his thinking, and laid out the cost of discipleship all in a singular perfect discourse. Jesus did all of this while knowing what would happen next.

“Disheartened… he went away sorrowful”

The man was offended. The lifestyle that the man had built for himself was so strong that it would not allow him to change, so he turned around and left Jesus standing there. Here’s what struck me: seemingly without compassion and without any effort to prevent him, Jesus simply lets the man walk away. Jesus did not try to stop him. Instead, He turned around to speak with His followers.

It seems that we get insecure with our relationships and evangelism. We live within a culture where we are pressured to support and affirm rebellious sin. We walk on eggshells around those whom we are trying to reach, scared to death that something may offend them or push them away. We even make changes to our theology in order to accommodate those who are in sinful lifestyles, going so far as to adopt their sin so as not to dis-include them.

The hard reality is that sometimes people need to be allowed to walk away. If someone needs to feel sorrow and brokenness for their sin, then I must not hinder that process. I must let them feel that sting, the pain of separation from God. It is not my place to try to ease their struggle. The truth of God will invariably hurt sometimes, and we must allow people to wrestle through it to find repentance!

Tell me, who is it that can change a life? Is it God, or is it you? It’s natural to want to support and affirm, but often that’s not what someone needs. Jesus gave that man exactly what he needed in that moment, and it made him walk away. Yet Jesus was supportive of this, because He knew that God was at work.

If it is for the Word’s sake, let them be angry, allow the frustration, and please have the courage to take your hands off and allow them to both become and remain broken. If we chase people down to fix them, we may soothe what the Lord needs to remain hurt. Surgery is painful. In our attempts to bring healing and support, we may be the one thing keeping that person from a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Sometimes they require our distance for God to work.

Wisdom reaches beyond the immediate, apparent need, mapping the distance from this point to that, revealing in a moment what is necessary versus what our emotions may be telling us.

Love knows when to let go. Look at the love of Jesus; His love let the young man walk away full of sorrow. Had the rich young ruler met a modern-day Christian, if it were you or me, what would have we done? Would we have chased him down to make it better and coax him into the Kingdom?

There is a love mature enough to allow the necessary distance.
There is a love confident enough to permit the struggle.
There is a love sacrificial enough to allow Godly sorrow which leads to repentance.

If we remove the hard truths of the Word of God, then we remove the struggle through which God must work.

Am I holding onto somebody that I need to let go? I’ve had to do this. It hurts, more deeply than I can share here. It turns into an ache that drives me to my knees. Let God do what He needs to do. Turn them over to the Lord and pray for those individuals. Let go and let God.

I am ever learning that God doesn’t need my help, and I am seeking wisdom to know when to step in, when to back out, and what distance may be required. If they need letting go, for however long that may be, then I must join God in it. To do otherwise is painfully not Christ like.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.