It was an open, honest conversation between a truth seeker and the Truth-Giver. The young man ran up to Jesus, anxious to hear from Him . . . knelt before Jesus, humbling showing his respect for Him . . . and asked Jesus a real, real good question . . . the kind of question that can be forever life changing . . . “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

You sense that when Jesus asked the rich young man to assess his performance against those commandments of Moses focused specifically on how to treat other people, that Jesus believed the young man’s sincere response, “Teacher, all these have I kept from my youth.” A church kid . . . who grew up knowing “the good book” and right from wrong . . . and had learned how important it was that you practiced what you preached. But Jesus, the Maker of men’s souls, knew that there was something missing . . . something really big missing . . .

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.   (Mark 10:21-22 ESV)

Mark alone records that Jesus loved the young man. And loving him, Jesus spoke words that He knew would discourage him. Jesus didn’t soften the truth . . . Jesus was straight up that there was something lacking. And, as I read this, I was reminded that sometimes love hurts . . . that to love someone means having to say or do something that, at least initially, is going to bring sorrow.

And, as if to confirm that was the thought the Lord was wanting to implant within me this morning, when I turned next to the 2Corinthians passage in my reading plan, I encountered this . . .

For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.    (2Corinthians 2:4 ESV)

You read Paul’s first letter to the church and Corinth and you know that he said some tough stuff . . . slammed them on a number of issues. You got to know that when they read that first letter it hurt. And Paul knew it too. Paul agonized over the pain he knew his previous letters and visits had caused these saints of God . . . but, he says, I wrote what I wrote, I said what I said, because of how much I love you. And, Jesus said what he said to the young man because of how much Jesus loved him.

So sometimes, love hurts. Sometimes it’s hard to speak the truth. But sometimes it’s the most loving thing we can do.

The young man, by the world’s standards, had it all . . . but he knew something was missing . . . he knew deep down that he had no confidence about his standing in eternity. And Jesus knew how important his success was to him . . . that the young man’s wealth was number one in the young man’s life . . . and so, because He loved him, Jesus was straight with him . . . “You lack one thing . . . release your grip on your earthly treasures . . . and you’ll have treasure in heaven.”

I like to think that, though initially disheartened, the young man eventually released his grip on the things of earth and took hold of the treasures of heaven. Don’t know . . . but I do know that apart from hearing the truth, he could not respond to the truth.

A bit of challenge to love people . . . and speak the truth . . . even when it might hurt . . . so that we might encourage each other to lay hold of the treasures of heaven . . .

And a bit of reminder of how much Jesus loves me . . . speaking the truth . . . revealing the truth . . . hurting, sometimes, with the truth . . . that the truth might set me free . . .