Legalism Begets a Lack of Consistency (TMF:459)

Thursday, July 28, 2016
Peace to Live By: Legalism Begets a Lack of Consistency (TMF:459) - Daniel Litton
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       A person might create a rule that he or she needs to read three chapters of the Bible each day. That’s a good goal, but we shouldn’t rigorously follow it without regard to reason. If the person feels like he or she can’t miss keeping this rule, then legalism has set in. It was a good practice, but don’t let the practice rule over you. Don’t become a slave to a rule you have created so that you end up doing the action just for the sake of keeping true to the rule. That’s legalism. Sixth, legalism begets a lack of consistency in behaviors. Let’s look at an example of what this might look like. There are some Christians who wont go to a restaurant on Sundays because they feel its causing people to work on Sundays—to not observe the Sabbath—all the while they have their electricity running in their homes. You do realize, don’t you, that having your electricity flowing on Sundays in your home is causing people to work? These rules and regulations don’t make any sense. It’s these types of behaviors that Jesus warned against. In this 7-day a week, 24-hour society, I think it safe to assume that people can observe their Sabbath on different days. This isn’t a collective society—for the most part—where everyone does the same things on the same days. It’s an individualistic society.