Freed from Legalism

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law."  Galatians 5:1


One of the biggest stumbling blocks of my faith has been legalistic ideas and doctrine.  In some cases, this legalism was imposed by a particular church I was attending or a group of believers which I was in Sunday School with.  I will never forget my experience at one church we attended a long time ago.  In my ladies only Sunday School class, I read a passage from my NIV Bible.  An awkward silence followed my reading of the passage.  It seemed like forever before anyone said a word.  To my shock, one lady very nastily pointed out that to read anything but King James Version was blaspheme and that I should never read from the NIV again.  I was crushed and hurt.  I never volunteered to read ANYTHING again.  Nor did I say anything again.  In fact, I eventually quit attending this Sunday School class.  I didn't really fit in, anyway.  I was also the only wife and mother in the group who had a job outside the family.  I felt like such an outcast because I didn't fit this church's ideas of what a godly woman should be.  Though no where in the church doctrine did they condemn other versions of the Bible nor did their doctrine specifically define the role of women, the legalistic undertones were still very much a part of this church.  I even had one older lady tell me that my health issues were judgements from God because I worked outside the home.  (Funny thing is, she had 4 children and worked at the church but I guess she didn't think that was the same as me working outside the home.)  Feeling like a failure of a Christian wife and mother, I eventually quit attending.  Scott continued to attend until we moved because he was employed by the private school ran by this church.  This church REQUIRED all of their school staff to attend and serve in THIS church. So he honored his contract until the end of the school year.    After this experience, I had such a difficult time committing myself wholly to our next church.  I'd been spiritually bullied by this legalistic church and thought deep down that all churches were like this.

Yet I am also guilty of imposing legalistic ideals upong myself - rules of how I thought all good little Christians should behave and act.  These standards of Christianity that I had set up in my own mind were so high that they would be impossible for anyone to ever consistently achieve.  Yet, I thought others did so I tried as well - and I failed.  So I'd beat myself up and chastise myself for my shortcomings.  Eventually, I gave up.  I was left, yet again, feeling as though I was a failure of a Christian.  Now here's the kicker, just this past week I found that I had imposed yet another 'legalistic' standard upon myself.  Upon this realization, I immediately gave it to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness and help.  As soon as I released this to the LORD, my soul was flooded with such RELIEF and PEACE!    I had FINALLY experienced FREEDOM from this binding chain in my life! And, oh, what a difference it has made in my spiritual walk!  The burden has been lifted!

Thankfully, as I have matured as a believer (not saying I'm mature - just growing more mature), God has opened my heart and my eyes.  I realize now that God doesn't expect me to be perfect.  The man-made standards that I thought defined Christianity were nothing more than legalistic hogwash.  Legalism can enslave and mislead believers, frustrating their faith and leading them down a path of unfruitfulness - playing right into the hands of the enemy.  Please understand, I'm not knocking Biblical doctrine or standards here.  I am talking purely man-made legalism. What we fail to realize is that Jesus Christ freed us from legalistic bondage.  So if Christ has set us free, why do we put the chains of legalism right back on?  A little counter-productive, don't you think?  Yet, we do.  We are like the Israelites who complained when Moses led them out of Egypt.  Once free, they balked at their freedom. They begged  to return to Egypt and put the chains of slavery back on.  Why?  I think it's because they just didn't know any better.  It was what they were most familiar with - most comfortable with.  That life was predictable and didn't require them to completely rely upon God.  Maybe our reasons for returning to the bondage of legalism are simliar. 

Paul writes that we who are in Christ no longer live under the law, but under the FREEDOM of GOD's GRACE!  (Romans 6:14)  He also writes,

"Even that question came up only because of some so-called Christians there—false ones, really —who were secretly brought in. They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations." Galatians 2:4

To live in freedom means that we have responded to the grace of God in our lives.  That we yield to His Holy Spirit, who lives within us, guiding us.  With Christ's imprint upon our hearts, our natural response should be one of whole-hearted love and obedience.  It is this loving obedience that helps us live a life pleasing to God.  Because of what Christ did on the cross, we are no longer held to legalistic standards that are humanly impossible to achieve.  His BLOOD was the purchase price of our freedom - freedom from sin and death- freedom from the Law that binds.  Christ fulfilled the Law.  We in no way can ever perfectly fulfill the Law because not a single one of us is perfect.  This is the flaw with legalistic doctrine and ideals - they rely on man's ability versus Christ's.  But where legalism fails, Christ prevails!

If you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, don't allow anyone to place the chains of legalism upon your faith.  Instead, live in spiritual freedom!  For where the Spirit of the Lord is, THERE IS FREEDOM!

"But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."  2 Corinthians 3:16-18

 Live in His freedom, friends!
  
In His Love, Cathy