You’re reading JESUS: LESSONS IN LOVE, by Eric Elder, featuring thirty inspiring devotionals based on the greatest “lover” of all time, Jesus Christ. Also available in paperback and eBook formats in our bookstore for a donation of any size!

Scripture Reading: Matthew 23

The day I put my faith in Jesus was the same day I put my faith in the Bible, from which I learned about Jesus.  I fell in love with both on the same day.

When people talk about how much they love the Bible, they’re not just talking about a book from which they’ve learned much, they’re also talking about a Person from whom they’ve learned much.

I suppose it’s like a young lover who takes a picture of his beloved out of his wallet and tenderly kisses the image.  It’s not the picture that the young man’s in love with, but a person whose image is represented by the picture.  If his love for the picture ever began to surpass his love for the person, then we’d know that something had started to go wrong.

Believe it or not, the same thing can happen to those of us who love the Bible.  When our love for the Word of God begins to supersede our love for God―and our love for the people of God about whom the words were written―then we know something has started to go wrong.

Jesus criticized the religious leaders of His day for this very thing.  They claimed to love the Word of God, and even gave the appearance of following the commands found in it to the “T.”  But Jesus saw their hearts; He saw that they weren’t motivated by their love for others, but by how they appeared to others.  It was a subtle difference that produced drastically different results than God had intended.

Jesus didn’t condemn these leaders for what they were teaching, for they were teaching the Word of God.  But He did condemn then for how they put those words into practice.  He said:

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.  Everything they do is done for men to see…” (Matthew 23:2-5). 

Jesus goes on to denounce the actions of those leaders in some of the strongest words in the Bible, calling them hypocrites, snakes, vipers, and sons of hell.  Yikes!  I don’t want to be like that!  I hope you don’t either!  So what can we do instead?

Jesus tells us in the same passage.  For starters, we’re to do the opposite of what the teachers of the law and the Pharisees were doing!  He doesn’t want us to just preach to others, but to practice what we preach.  When we give godly advice to others, we’re not just to walk away and say, “I’ve told you what to do, now good luck.”  He wants us to at least lift a finger―and more―to help them to do it.

If someone’s struggling with an addiction, rather than just telling them it’s wrong, offer to be their accountability partner.  If someone’s considering a divorce, rather than just telling them to try to work it out with their spouse, help them to work it out with their spouse.  If someone’s going under financially, rather than just telling them to work out a budget, help them to work out a budget.  I’m preaching to myself, too!  It’s often easier to tell people what they should do than to help them to do it, which is why I’m studying these “lessons in love”!

Our motivation in sharing God’s Word must always be love―saying and doing things that will truly benefit those we’re trying to help, whether anyone sees our good deeds or not.

If we claim to love the Word of God, we must also love the people of God about whom the words are written.  To do anything less would be like falling in love with a piece of paper with some ink on it.

Prayer: Father, help me to love Your people, remembering that Your words were written because of Your great love for them.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.