Sometimes we need to insulate our feelings for awhile. I’m there with someone in my life right now. Their actions have made me feel the need to draw back, to step away.

I ask myself as a follower of Christ, is this the right thing to do.

I find myself comforted with the knowledge that Jesus walked away himself on occasion. Not with his love. But certainly with his actions.

I’m reminded of the woman caught in adultery and the rich young ruler. In neither case did Jesus plead or hang around till he saw how they were doing.

What people often overlook in the story of the woman caught in adultery is that there is no evidence whether or not she obeyed his command to “Go and sin no more.” We have no evidence one way or the other whether she changed her life or not.

Love does that, walks away to give a person time.

Real love doesn’t overlook the life-changing, possibly disastrous mistakes, people are making. Real love speaks the truth and tries to help, although the consequences are often painful.

Let’s be clear though. Jesus would not have walked away if there were more to be done. He would also have been there for each of them again had they sought him out in the future. For all we know, they might have. We simply don’t know.

We can learn a lot from these two encounters.

First, the truth spoken in love is always the right thing to do. (Remember that while the love part is the important part, that doesn’t mean you wrap your words in honey.)

Secondly, we can’t make another person change. We can’t “grow-up” another person. But we can pray and trust that God’s message gets through in answer to our prayers.

That’s hard when we see someone who has had all the privilege life has to offer, take advantage and disrespect those who have their best interest at heart. Some people are just determined to learn the hard way and you just hope they learn at all.

It’s not a new story.

It’s played out everyday in loving families, dealing with that one who is stubborn and strong-willed in the wrong ways. I was somewhat like that myself, but I had to be.

This person doesn’t have to. They have a loving and extended family ready to help. That’s what makes it so hard.

I know I’ll try one more time because you never know if that one more time might just be the time they respond.

God bless and I hope you have a good day.