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1.2 Love and Obey
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Legalism can stem from a sense of deep insecurity (i.e. fear) and a misguided and/or misplaced sense of identity. If obeying God becomes more about something I fear could happen if I do not do XYZ—if I doubt God's love and His gracious provision in every circumstance– this can be a path to legalism. Similarly, if I feel that if I do ABC, I can somehow earn God's favour (forgetting that, in Christ, I already have God's favour)– this is another path to legalism. There can also be social pressures as well—our peers may grant privileges or social standing if we do ABC and so we can lose sight of God and become wrapped up (at least subconsciously) in how we look to other people. The common denominator to all these scenarios is finding our sense of identity in how we perform. We focus our identity on what we DO rather than who we ARE in Christ. Most of us have been guilty of all of these things at one time or another. As a sidenote, I would say that if there is a disconnect between the heart and mind, this is a sure path to legalism. A disconnect (resulting from pain, confusion, and/or a lack of time for personal and prayerful introspection of the heart and reflection (mind)) inevitably leads to a life of "automatic pilot"—which is (more or less), another form of legalism. We behave or do certain things without thinking any more about what they could actually signify or why we are doing them. Conversely, setting our heart/mind on who Christ is and who we are in Christ (i.e. our identity in Christ) is liberating. Our doing can then come freely out of who Christ is and who we are in Christ.
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I think one area the Lord is confronting me with lately is my view of Sunday morning church. Most of my life I have viewed church as the “good Christian thing to do” and it didn’t seem to do much for me. I went for the sake of going and putting on a good show. Now I am actually part of the leadership team at our church and need to be there early to help get things organized and ready to go; and that definitely seemed to make things worse at first. I started to view going to church as a chore, not as a way to connect with other believers, lift each other up through prayer and encouragement, and praise God as a community; which is what I know church is really about.
The Lord has been showing me that church is more than just a job to check off my to do list once a week. He has been giving me joy and excitement about being surrounded by fellowship with like-minded believers, worshipping Him as a body, and hearing His Word.
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@JWasmuth as a pastor’s kid, I can certainly relate! Whenever I told my Dad I didn’t want to go to church he would reply, “That’s when you need to go.” I’m not sure if that helped or not, but it does turn out that when we push through the feeling of this is a chore and treat it as service, God can change our heart’s attitude about it. Have you heard of the book, Dangerous Calling, by Paul David Tripp? If not, you should consider reading it. Here is a quote related to your comment:
"I am very concerned about the acceptance of Sunday morning mediocrity, and I am persuaded that it is not primarily a schedule or laziness problem. I am convinced it is a theological problem. You see, the standards you set for yourself and your ministry are directly related to your view of God. If you are feeding your soul every day on the grace and glory of God, if you are in worshipful awe of his wisdom and power, if you are spiritually stunned by his faithfulness and love, and if you are daily motivated by his presence and promises, then you want to do everything you can to capture and display that glory to the people God has placed in your care."
It sounds to me that you are entering into a bit of that “caring” attitude that desires to capture and display God’s glory for others. Keep on keeping on!
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The area of my life I can relate with legalism is my devotional time. Ever since I became a mother and my whole life started to look a lot different. I realized how stuck I was in legalism when it came to my solitude God time. Going from being free to having devotions at 6am to whenever I needed throughout the day. Everyday for years. To being sleep deprived, stepping into a new busyness, where my time was now feeding, changing diapers, etc…where it got to a point that my relationship with God was changing and it wasn’t going to look the same that it did. In the midst of finding what the new normal between God and myself would look like, I struggled in that journey to feel like He would still be pleased with me. I was constantly asking Him to forgive for not meeting 6 am, not being able to make Church some Sunday’s, for having to listen to audio bible in the shower, to having cry baby in the middle of me trying to spend time with you. I felt like i was not going to be able to have that strong relationship with God anymore. All to find out that becoming a mother has grown my relationship and dependance on God that much more.
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@K-Scott09 the season of early motherhood is a fantastic example of how a person has to learn to walk by the Spirit and not be bound to religious routine/habit! You may really appreciate the book, Liturgy of the Ordinary. Nik Amodeo, uses it quite a bit in his ECO course, Thinking Theologically.
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I had very little understanding about the Lord, Jesus and the Bible. I thought that if my chilldren were well behaved then I was something right? wrong they were afraid of me due to the discipline and boundaries that I put onto them 🙁
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Darla, this is an honest admission. Thanks for sharing. As a young parent myself I can relate to this response. Often I don’t want my kids to “embarrass” me and I can easily put others’ interests over loving my children. Knowledge of this problem is one thing, but has God helped you experience healing in this area?
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