August 17th — ARE YOU DISCOURAGED IN DEVOTION?
August 17th.ARE YOU DISCOURAGED IN DEVOTION?
"Yet lackest thou one thing; sell all that thou hast . . and come, follow Me." Luke 18:22
"And when he heard this . . ." Have you ever heard the Master say a hard word? If you have not, I question whether you have heard Him say anything.
Jesus Christ says a great deal that we listen to, but do not hear; when we do hear, His words are amazingly hard.
Jesus did not seem in the least solicitous that this man should do what He told him, He made no attempt to keep him with Him. He simply said - Sel al you have, and come, fol ow Me. Our Lord never pleaded, He never cajoled, He never entrapped; He simply spoke the sternest words mortal ears ever listened to, and then left it alone.
Have I ever heard Jesus say a hard word? Has He said something personal y to me to which I have deliberately listened? Not something I can expound or say this and that about, but something I have heard Him say to me? This man did understand what Jesus said, he heard it and he sized up what it meant, and it broke his heart. He did not go away defiant; he went away sorrowful, thoroughly discouraged. He had come to Jesus ful of the fire of earnest desire, and the word of Jesus simply froze him; instead of producing an enthusiastic devotion, it produced a heart-breaking discouragement. And Jesus did not go after him, He let him go. Our Lord knows perfectly that when once His word is heard, it wil bear fruit sooner or later. The terrible thing is that some of us prevent it bearing fruit in actual life. I wonder what we wil say when we do make up our minds to be devoted to Him on that particular point? One thing is certain, He wil never cast anything up at us.