How, Then Should We Live?

When I first gave my life to Christ, there were those around me who were legalists and I fell into confusion as to how I was supposed to live my life. After I had sorted through the mess and figured out the true message of salvation, I lived in peace.

Legalism is a curse. I hate it because it brings Christians into bondage.

When I relate this in conversation with others, I often get the question, “What is legalism?”

Well, the truth is that legalism is not at all easy to explain, and not that easy to understand.

The tragedy is that many who have been Christians for years, even decades still don’t understand it and still live in bondage under it.

The short answer is that legalism is trying to live by a list of do’s and don’ts and trying to please God by obeying the list.

The problem is that no one can live by a list without failing to keep it.

Impossible! So every time one doesn’t do a do or doesn’t do a don’t,

that individual falls under guilt and condemnation.

It drives separation between God and oneself.

That’s a terrible way to live.

These kinds of people usually are continually judging others

when they don’t keep the false, invented list.

Have you been around people who always seem to be looking down their nose at you because you haven’t kept their “invented” list?

I have. As much as possible I try to stay away from such people. It isn’t easy because there are many churches and some denominations who are extremely legalistic. Often, they call their standard “holiness.” It’s not holiness at all, but simply legalism.

In a nutshell, the promise was given to Abraham that God would send a savior who would pay for all of our sins and redeemed us from that curse, the curse of sin. Abraham was saved because he believed in the promise of a Savior God gave him. When the scripture talks about children of Abraham, it means that whosoever believed in Jesus for the redemption of his sin, does so by faith in the complete sacrifice by Jesus for our sins.

The promise to Abraham was a promise we receive by faith,

not by legalism, trying to keep a list of do’s and don’ts.

Indeed, trying to obtain salvation by living by this list

is an insult to Christ because we are then trying to redo

what Christ has already done for us.

The statement is true that by accepting the finished work of Christ on the cross, we receive the ‘free gift” of salvation.

The process of righteous living, that is living as God wants us to live, the Bible calls sanctification, which is the subject of another conversation.

Suffice it to say that we as Christians strive to live righteously because that is how God wants us to live and we strive toward that end because of our gratitude that God has given us the free gift of salvation.

Photograph designed and taken by Lorraine