Which do you choose as your approach to Life?
Definition: Legalism: excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code.
We all need to make lasting spiritual changes in our lives. We have two choices. Either we are going to try to get it from our own efforts or we get it from God’s grace. If we choose to do it by our efforts, we will try to make things happen by our ideas, our schemes, our plans, and our efforts. Our efforts alone equal frustration. If we chose to receive grace, which means God will be doing it as we exercise our FAITH in the power of the Holy Spirit coming into our lives, it will come with no cost to us at all. It is pure gift. It shouldn’t be hard to tell which choice will be the wisest.
1. A Legalistic Approach calls for perfection. God’s Relational Approach is concerned with connection.
In Jesus we find that God cares more about connection than perfection. Being with Him, and in communion with His love, mercy, grace and forgiveness is much more important than our grunting and groaning to try and please Him. Salvation is a free gift. We can’t earn it by our prayers, kind deeds, donations, Bible readings, or any of our human efforts. We pray, do kind deeds; make donations, study His Word, etc. not to earn our salvation but to walk in His Ways. That is what a child of God does. It seems that Jesus’ words to Martha hold a most powerful meaning as He says, “One thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion… (Luke 10:42). That portion is making that connection with Jesus and with what He wants our lives to be.
2. Legalism calls for competence. A relational approach emphasizes desire.
While God calls us to higher ways of living that represent where we are heading, He also knows that we won’t be a mature person in a day’s time. We are a work in progress. What matters to Him most is our desire for Him and His Kingdom. The Scriptures continually tell us that “nobody is competent enough, except Christ” and so our passion, out goal will be to strive to know and love Jesus more each day. The minute we are focused on our competence, our faith is again about US and not about HIM. We’re either focused on how “good” we are, or even worse how “bad” we are.
3. The legalistic approach produces feelings of shame. The relational approach evokes mercy.
Shame is constantly saying to us, “You are a bad person because you have behaved badly. If you could only behave better, then we could get along.” Yet mercy says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) The real question for us now is: do we really believe it?
Legalism says "Come When You’re Clean." Relational Approach says: "Come and get cleaned."
The legalistic model to God is:
1. Transformation = Get yourSELF cleaned up.
2. Presentation = Present yourSELF.
3. Salvation = Get yourSELF accepted by God.
The Gospel of Jesus is completely the opposite.
1. Salvation = God loves you as you are in Christ.
2. Presentation = Let Him present His Son to you, and you present yourself to Him.
3. Transformation = Let His love overflow your life, and into your neighbors’ lives so that you can be “made in His likeness” (Be His disciples!) God must do the cleaning in our lives, or else we might take the credit, and wonder why others can’t clean up their act.