Developing a Hardness!
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Timothy 2:4.
If I am going to be an example of what a disciple of Jesus Christ I must learn to develop a hardness. Jesus Himself was a mixture of both tenderness and hardness. And unless I develop the same mixture I will drift off into sentimentality or else become very rigid.
Jesus never became hard to His Father’s will, but always towards the people who tried to prevent Him from doing that will. He set His face like stone to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). If I decide to follow Jesus I will be pulled in many directions, all supposedly for good to save me from myself. The disciple who does not deliberately develop a hardness will find himself too weak to resist the warnings from family and friends that he is too fanatical.
Jesus developed a hardness toward people even His closet friends, whenever they appeared to block His path in doing God’s will. Jesus made statements like “Get behind me Satan” (Matthew 16:23); “What is it to you?” (John 21:22). “Women, what do I have to do with you?” (John 9:24). If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”. (John 13:8).
I must always be tender toward human need but incorrigibly hard against human short-sightedness. The person who is shortsighted will always want to take shortcuts around the will of the Father. I must walk both in love but with wisdom being on the lookout for those who would want me to become soft and self-indulgent. My strength comes from me setting my face like stone to accomplish the Father’s will. “Our sufficiency is of God,” Paul said (2 Corinthians 3:5). That is the sufficiency from God and the stubbornness of a person who will not be sidetracked from accomplishing the will of God. Paul stated when he encountered obstacles “I am ready not only to be jailed…but also die for the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 21:13).