Genuine Love

“Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:20-21

WE WANT SO MUCH more than for our children to simply follow the rules or to appear successful to the world around us. We want Christ to be their supreme joy and treasure. Because we love them, we want them to love God above everything else.

To love our children in this way is to love as Jesus loved. When a man who had great wealth came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to get the life Jesus was offering, we read that “Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him” (Mark 10:21, TLB). Jesus could see that as good as the man had been at obeying the Ten Commandments —at least on the surface —he had actually failed at the very first command, which is “You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:3).

Jesus could see that another god had taken the place reserved for God alone —the god of wealth and possessions and the comfortable, privileged life they brought. When an idol threatens the eternal joy of the person you love, the compassionate thing to do is to point out the idol and call that person to forsake it, kill it, dethrone it, repent of it, and turn toward Christ, recognizing that he is the true source of everything the idol falsely promises.

Lord, help me see beneath ________’s behaviors —good and bad —into the passions that drive them. Give me insight into the idols that need to be torn down, the desires that have morphed into demands, the gifts you’ve given that she has come to love more than the Giver. But more than that, shine your light in me to help me see the idols that I have tolerated in my own heart. Lead me to genuine and pervasive repentance so that I might love ________ well by leading the way in putting such idols to death.