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Jesus said, do not resist an evil person Jesus said, anyone who does not give up all he owns can not be my disciple Jesus said, woe to you who laugh now for you shall mourn and weep Jesus said, love your enemies
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Jesus said...

“If you love me, you will keep my commands.”

“Do not store up things for yourself on earth.”

“Sell your possessions and give to the needy.”

“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.”

“Do not resist the one who does evil.”

“Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not demand your things back from someone who takes them from you.”

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing what is right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“If you do not forgive others, neither will God forgive your sins.”

“Do not worry about what you will eat, what you will drink or what you will wear.”

“Do not take an oath at all.”

“As you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

“Beware of practicing your good deeds in order to be seen by other people, for then you will have no reward from God.”

“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.”

“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”

“Woe to you when all people speak well of you.”

“Judge not, that you be not judged.”

“The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and few people find it.”

“Struggle to enter by the narrow gate, for many will seek to enter and will not be able.”

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does what God wants.”

“Beware of false teachers, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are hungry wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.”

“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“Those who have done good will go to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

This list is only a short collection of some of Jesus’s teachings that many people find hard to accept.

What if Jesus really meant every word he said?

Why are many people quick to accept some of the things that Jesus said and yet so resistant to other things that he said? Why do many people who say that Jesus is their master refuse to accept some of the things that he said?

For many people it is easy to accept Jesus’s words like these:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Yet many of the same people find it hard to accept Jesus’s words like the ones listed above.

Why is this? Is it that these statements are not clear? No, it is because of the cost of accepting such statements.

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He also said, “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.” If those statements are true, we can not afford to be selective in which of Jesus’s words we accept. The truth of Jesus’s words is not dependent on how much they cost us to take seriously.

Some people say that they believe everything that Jesus said but then they say that Jesus’s words only apply to the people he first spoke them to and not to us today. Such people are certainly not Christians or disciples of Jesus. To say that they are is like saying that a Buddhist or Hindu who appreciates a few of the things Jesus said is a Christian.

Some people say that they believe everything that Jesus said but then come up with clever explanations for how his most costly statements do not really mean what they seem to mean when you first read them. Some examples of that are:

Such people are dishonest. Rather than either changing their lives or rejecting Jesus entirely when they read something he said that they do not like, they just make up their own Jesus who is happy not to disrupt their self-centered lives too much.

Some people say that Jesus really meant everything he said and do not have any clever explanations to explain his hard teachings away and yet make very little attempt to live by those hard words. This group represents the majority of people who call themselves Christians or disciples of Jesus. In reality they are not true disciples of Jesus any more than the others mentioned above.

Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” If you resist what Jesus said, you can be sure you do not love Jesus and are not a Christian.

If you do not know much of what Jesus said, you can read some of his words and some of the things he did in four books written by four of his early disciples. Those books, which are accounts of Jesus’s life according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the first four books in the New Testament of the Bible. If you are familiar with what Jesus said but have not been taking some of the more costly teachings seriously enough, you should read those books again and this time pay close attention to the hard parts.


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