Are you delivering burdens or love?

In Matthew 23 Jesus gets after the Pharisees.

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them..

When I was younger, I thought that the point of this passage was that you better be good and practice what you preach. But now I see it a different way.

Jesus is saying, stop preaching and teaching things that put rules, laws and burdens on people. Doing so only causes them to focus on the wrong things of life.  Life is not about who is good enough.  Life is not about who the good ones are.

God loves everyone.  Jesus freed people from guilt and shame.  If we would follow his ways, we would seek to become lovers of people, not controllers.

Let them be. Let them live. Let them find happiness and love.  And if we can give a life of love to others, maybe we can find it ourselves as well.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.