It is a difficult thing to say to people what they do not want to hear. I struggle with this almost weekly in preparing for the sermon. If I come across a passage that seems harsh, then my instinct is to tone it down and soften it so that it would not seem so harsh. After all, we are attracted to those who tell us, “You are okay. You will eventually prosper and get your wish,” and not, “You are a sinner and unless you change your ways, you will be destroyed! You and your family both!”

This is one of the reasons the Prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament was hated. While other prophets were reassuring the people that God will protect them and prosper them, Jeremiah was telling them that God will destroyed them and they will be taken off to a foreign land.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts; ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follow his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.'” Jeremiah 23:16-17

Be very wary of those who tell you that things will go well for you even though you are living in sin. As a matter of fact, if things will go well for you even though you are living in sin, that is a bad thing because you will pay for it in hell forever. It is better that a disaster strikes while we are living in sin so that we will have a chance to turn from our sins and be forgiven than to continue to prosper and be well and end up in hell forever.

Learn to love those who tell you hard things – hopefully with encouragements, too… They are the ones who truly care for you.

PH