A Jot from John
“This is a hard saying,” responded some of the disciples of Christ when they heard His teaching on a vital point. And “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
The gospel has always had its hard sayings. Today some of them may seem quite hard to us. In an age of loose marriage ties, the law of Christ that permits no divorce, expect for fornication, seems hard. In a time when discipline has been dispensed with in the home, in school, in public life, and even in the church, the law that commands us to withdraw ourselves from every brother that walks disorderly seems hard. In an environment where the world is too much a part of our lives, pervading our lives and beguiling us with its enticements, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” seems hard. To the covetous American, who by standards of the rest of the world is rich, yet wants ever more for himself, the law of Christian giving seems hard that requires great liberality on his part, and especially since cheerfulness is at the same time enjoined. By so frequent an absence from the services of the church it is evident that the law to assemble seems hard to many. When so few church members feed daily on the word of God in a personal way, the admonition to “give diligence to present thyself approved to God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth” seems hard. There just isn’t enough time for it, and besides we don’t quite have the inclination.
What makes a saying of God seem hard to us? Why, it becomes a hard saying whenever it is contrary to our own desires. If we are spiritually lazy, any saying that would make us rise to action will be a hard one. If a saying of Scripture would force us to deny ourselves, that will be a hard saying for us. Any time the teaching of God condemns us for what we are or what we do, the saying that does so is hard to us.
There are some things about “hard” sayings that are not hard. That is, they are not hard to speak. Indeed, for a Christian it is a joy to thus proclaim the Father’s will, even as it was for Christ. They are not hard to understand, therefore, the difficulty lies in accepting what He says. They are even not hard to obey, once we are committed to serving God. And certainly, His hard sayings are not contrary to our best interests.
What, then, shall we do when we come to the hard saying? We have only two choices as human beings, and only one as faithful Christians. Like the faithless ones who complained to Jesus about the hard sayings, we may go back to the world and walk no more with Him. Or, we can anchor ourselves in faith in Jesus and answer Like Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
Onward Rejoicing,
John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
