{"id":718,"date":"2010-09-13T12:29:46","date_gmt":"2010-09-13T12:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2010\/09\/an-inconvenient-truth.html"},"modified":"2010-09-13T12:29:46","modified_gmt":"2010-09-13T12:29:46","slug":"an-inconvenient-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/09\/an-inconvenient-truth.html","title":{"rendered":"An Inconvenient Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when we are confronted with reality in way that forces us to make a decision to change? What do we do? There are two options:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Ignore it and hope it goes away. <\/div>\n
Change a decision or our behavior. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In the New Testament, Jesus often confronted people about their lives and gave them the opportunity to change. Take for example, the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Decision time. This young fellow was confronted by Jesus with something in his life that needed to change. The benefits to changing his behavior far outweighed the negatives. But he couldn’t do it. He could deny his own needs in order for follow Jesus in this way.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Today, that’s making me ask a question, “What needs to change in my life that is keeping me from God’s best?”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
    \n
  • Maybe I need to eat less in order to help those who are hungry.<\/li>\n
  • Then there’s the issue of my own consumerism. If I denied myself a few ‘pleasures’ then others could have life saving medicine to cure their malaria, or some other life threatening disease.<\/li>\n
  • Or maybe I need to take in a foster child so they can experience the love of a family. There are over 400,000 of these children in the US alone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
    What inconvenient truth is Jesus trying to tell you? Will it be inconvenient? Probably. But will it lead to more life and fulfillment than you’ve ever known? Certainly. <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What happens when we are confronted with reality in way that forces us to make a decision to change? What do we do? There are two options: Ignore it and hope it goes away.  Change a decision or our behavior.  In the New Testament, Jesus often confronted people about their lives and gave them the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,113,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-devotions","category-kingdom-of-god","category-the-poor"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Inconvenient Truth - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2010\/09\/an-inconvenient-truth.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Inconvenient Truth - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What happens when we are confronted with reality in way that forces us to make a decision to change? 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}