I went to church this morning and heard the message on God's "tough love." The speaker branched off from how Jesus was highly praised and adored on what we commemorate as "Palm Sunday" to when He was crucified during the "Holy Week" celebration.
She springs from this question, "What made the crowd change their tune in as fast as a week?" That is a rather difficult thing to digest there, having people shout "praise the Lord, Jesus is king" to "crucify him." That is a 180 degree turn.
As she explained it though, in the short span of time between those 2 dates Jesus started to speak of things that people didn't really want to hear:
- He reprimanded those selling and doing business in the temple
- He welcomed sinners (adulterers & tax collectors) as those who may enter heaven
- He told the people to pay their taxes so to speak
I guess it is rather difficult to hear reprimand and to hear correction. I certainly understand how that feels but I guess if we want to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, these are necessary for us to follow.
I do hope God can give me the strength to abide by His love - though how tough it can be sometimes. What I think though, similar to what Job said - we should accept both good and bad from the Lord
