There is Only One Way!

I think often we try to complicate life. Life is actually pretty simple. I believe one reason we are here on this planet is so we can be perfected in love. Everything we do or don't do should be motivated out of love and for the betterment of others.

Problems come in when we try to define love by worldly terms. We can only know true love however by knowing God, because God is love; To know true love, it is necessary to get to know God and also receive his love.

Jesus even summed up the hundreds of laws the Jewish people had into one. The law of love! He was pretty harsh with the Pharisees that were trying to put other yokes on the people by telling them they should be doing more than that.

In our society today, we see two groups of people doing this. I would argue that neither side really knows God or His love. They are two sides of the same coin.

One Pharisaical side is the a ultra-conservative, traditionalists. They try to put yokes on people by telling them they should act and behave a certain way. Love is very conditional in this camp and it is by ones own merits that they achieve righteousness and perfection.

The other Pharisaical side is the progressive, liberals. They try to put yokes on people telling them they should be doing certain things. If people are not involved in every cause that agrees with this camp, they are considered hypocrites.

If you try to get in a discussion with either of these camps you could end up feeling like you were thrown into a den of vipers and beaten up. There is no grace or tolerance available for anyone who disagrees with their position.

Anyone who has been on social media long enough has had this happen to themselves or seen it done to someone else.

The problem with both these sides is it requires human effort to be in those camps. It negates humility and poverty of spirit. It denies the fact that we can do nothing apart from the living God and the need for his grace and mercy.

The place I would rather be and remain is in the loving arms of my Heavenly Father. I want to lean back and rest in him. I want to get to know his heart beat and then go where His Spirit leads me to go.

Let us be careful not to get caught up in culture wars and take on the false yokes people try to place on us. Let us instead keep our eyes on Christ, learn his ways and go where he is calling us to go. This is the way of peace. This is the way of love. This is the way to be most effective!

Galatians 5:1 -  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.