The Hard Sayings

According to many places in the scriptures, the main challenge in life is to stay on a path that is described as strait and narrow. Satan's goal is to obscure that path with the mists of darkness. The Savior's life teaches us two major defenses against leaving that path. Immediately after Jesus fed the five thousand, He went to Capernaum. Those He had fed the previous day found Him in the synagogue. They had witnessed His power and wanted Him to be their king and continue to take care of their temporal needs. This included everything from miraculous meals to freedom from the Romans. Their focus was their physical needs, but Jesus had come to take care of their spiritual ones.
In a powerful speech known as the Discourse on the Bread of Life, Jesus tried to tell them that He could not be the kind of Messiah they wanted. He had to be the kind of Savior they needed--the kind His Father had commanded Him to be. This went against so many of their traditions and expectations that they were offended, murmuring, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" (John 6:60,)
Jesus answered that there might be even harder ones down the road. It was necessary for them to see His mission as spiritual rather than temporal. This was too much for many of His followers so from that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.
Along the path will be many "hard sayings" we will be asked to accept and act upon. These sayings are different for each of us. There is no need to judge each other. My hard sayings may be very easy for others, and theirs may present no difficulties for me. For some young men, "Every worthy young man should fill a mission" may be a hard saying. The call for more older couples in the mission field may present a fearful challenge to many. Tithing is a hard saying for more members of the Church than we may realize. To some women, the counsel to come home from the workplace may be a hard saying. The youth may find the standards of the Church a major limit to their desires. Certain trials, disappointments, or calls to leadership may constitute hard sayings for others.
These moments present Lucifer with the opportunity to get us to do what the disciples of Jesus did--to walk no more with Him. He would have us see the path as so strait and narrow that it hardly has room for us. At that point he uses a deceptive mist to get us off the Lord's path. He suggests there are other paths that will get us where we want to go. But we must not be deceived.

s. michael wilcox