Hard Teachings

“Many of his disciples who heard this said, “This message is harsh. Who can hear it?”    John 6:60  CEB

“God, may I never be one of those who become offended by a hard teaching or statement from You”.

Many of God’s teachings or statements are indeed hard, but we should never grumble and complain against them.  Nor should we ever decide not to follow Him because of His Word.  (John 6:61,66)

There will be times His teachings will disturb us.   But a God who never disturbs us, who never corrects us, or who never disciplines us would be a God unworthy of our trust.   We should praise Him for the many times He comforted us and nursed our wounded feelings back to health.   We should also praise Him for the times He refused to comfort us and told us to stop whining and get on with the task set before us.

Most of the time we get a “hard saying” when we are on the brink of a revelation about God or about ourselves.   It is often a push to keep us moving forward.

Hard teachings are always dividers; they divide the true Christian from the phony Christians.   They divide the right feelings from the wrong ones.   A “hard saying” is a purifier that strips away all the defilement and makes us clean.

Hard teachings are painful and they hurt.  But how much better to have a hard word from Jesus, who loves us infinitely, than a smooth word from Satan, who only wants to cause offense and turn us away from God.

“Lord, give me sense and courage to love and appreciate Your hard teachings so I can take a giant step to glory”.  “ I will never forget Your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life”.    Psalm 119:93  NIV

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning”.     Lam. 3:22-23  NLT