Read in Mark 10 today about a remarkable encounter between Jesus & a rich man. Jesus is asked by him, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" In other words, how do I become a true follower of You....by "true", I mean one who doesn't just give Jesus lip service but becomes a "doulos"...a bondslave...total surrender to the One he will follow all of his life with a bent to love Him more, obey Him more- not to earn his salvation, of course, but rather as proof of his true salvation/conversion.
Jesus' response is nothing short of profound. I love how the ESV puts it, "And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him..." I'm trying to imagine the Good Teacher looking into my eyes & feeling His love for me as He says the hard thing that I need to hear....wow. It blows me away to understand just how much He loves me/us....so much that He will say and continues to say what I/we need to hear, not necessarily what I/we want to hear. Because He looks with the eyes of El Roi (the name for Him as the God who sees), He sees all... such a small word to represent everything in me, in my heart, in my mind, in all of me! Can you imagine the discomfort that begins to rise up as you realize He can literally see all that's in you?! Discomfort is probably much too weak a word to describe the feeling....it would probably me more like what a criminal feels when he's been caught red-handed...busted...you know, the hand literally in the cookie jar kind of thing.
The next 2 words slay me, "loved him"....He sees all and yet He still loves....oh praise Him! Such a great picture of Romans 5:8, "but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Thank you Jesus!
So His look & His love required that He speak the hard word to the rich man what he needed to hear & that one word was: LACK. "You lack one thing..."
I'm so thankful for a God who always speaks truth to me. No sugar-coating. He will always tell me what I need to hear. But what about mercy? oh yes, He speaks with mercy! Were it not for His mercy, He would not have sent His only Son to die for me. His mercy goes hand in hand with "loved him".
God, make me into a doulos who looks at others with eyes stamped with eternity that sees past the superficial to their heart. I can't see like You can, but because Your Spirit lives in me, You can enable me to discern things otherwise undiscernable. Help me to love others like You do and to speak truth to them....but always with mercy and with love. For Your glory I pray, amen.
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