Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22 and Luke 18:18-23 all tell of a time when Jesus encountered a rich young ruler who wanted to know how to get into Heaven. The ruler approaches Jesus and asks "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Jesus replies "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." The ruler claims he has, in fact, kept all the commandments from his youth, but Jesus throws him a curve ball. "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." This makes the ruler very sad, as he was very rich.
One peculiarity about Mark's version of this story is that, unlike the others, it tells us Jesus' motive. In the first part of verse 21, we are told "Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him...". Jesus loved this man. And yet, how was this love expressed? The verse continues, "...and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”" Jesus' love for the rich young ruler was not expressed in the manner of a cuddle merchant. He showed this man His love by telling him a truth that made him... sad.
We aren't told if the rich man actually put Jesus' words into practice. We're told he went away sad, but whether he was sad because he was about to sell everything he loved, or because he knew that keeping it would deny him eternal life, is not entirely clear. Whichever possibility came to pass, Jesus' words made him sad. The absolute last thing this man wanted to hear was "sell your possessions, give to the poor and follow me". And yet, this is exactly what Jesus said.
In our culture, an inconvenient truth is seen as hateful, and telling a comforting lie, or at least respecting such, is seen as the highest of virtues. But what is loving about this? Should love not consider the ultimate good? Ignorance is only bliss for a short amount of time, but it has a nasty habit of bursting its own bubbles.
Let's think of it this way. Suppose a doctor discovers his patient has cancer. As of yet, the cancer is not showing any obvious effects. The patient is not expressing any pain, and has no idea there's anything wrong. This might be temporarily comforting to the patient. Receiving the news that you have a potentially life-threatening disease that tends to be very hard to treat is particularly difficult. What should the doctor do? Allow the patient to continue living in blissful ignorance, or tell the patient honestly "you have cancer, here are your treatment options". The inconvenient truth is obviously the better answer.
The thing about cancer is it can only kill you. Sin, however, kills you twice. Physical and spiritual death both both result from sin. It may be comforting to believe you are a good person, so loved by God that Heaven is a guarantee even if you don't acknowledge Him for most of your life. But then, one day, the grim reaper creeps up behind you, you find yourself standing before God in judgement, and suddenly, you hear "one thing you lack...". Suddenly, that temporary bliss doesn't seem worth it. Sure, it's nice to believe "Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth", but if there is even one of those things you have not kept from your youth, you're guilty before God, and earn only one thing from Him: The wages of sin.
So how do we really love people? Letting them believe what they want for fear of offending them, or telling them the truths that will make them walk away sad, but in the end, will hopefully make them come back rejoicing over the sorrows they avoided? There is no one more loving than Jesus. Absolutely no one. And yet, He chose the latter option. Jesus Christ, looking at the world, loves the world, and so He has a discomforting message: "One thing you lack...". Therefore, we must all repent, do good and follow Him.