Imagine you and I are at the best dinner party ever. Smoked brisket, mango salsa, fresh mozzarella, and not one but two chocolate chip cheesecakes! Even better than the food are the easy-to-talk-to and supremely likable people. In the middle of the best party ever, I duck downstairs to grab you your favorite drink, which is where I smell something off. Gas! As I hear another roar of laughter from above, I smell the gas leak below. So what should I do? I don’t want to crash the party, but I have to.

Our faith is like that too. “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 1:3). Jude had to write an intense letter of correction even if he would have preferred a tender letter about salvation.

Don’t run away from “have to” moments in your faith. A friend might text you something hard. A pastor might need to say something harsh. A parent might insist on having a heart-to-heart. Fools run from such moments and become more foolish. But wise Christians are willing to be corrected, which makes them wiser. Those “have to but don’t want to” conversations are what God will use to make you more like Jesus.

Will you have ears to hear it?