Legalism As It pertains To...Legalism?

I had an epiphany the other night as I was contemplating my next post, realizing that it is possible to be legalistic when railing against legalism and that perhaps this would be a worthy topic to address. One thing I want to be sure of is that I never come across as having all the answers. I don't want to be seen as being arrogant and so sure of my own ideas that I attempt to enforce them upon others to the point of putting them down for their own opinions.

That's the gist of it; legalism at its core is a firm belief that your way is the only way and anyone not in line is wrong. There is no problem with having your own sense of how things should be done and even attaching a strong emotion to it. In fact, I would say that type of passion is crucial to helping you recognize how strongly you feel about your faith. The passion is great! Hold on tightly to the passion! Just don't be confused into believing that because you are passionate about it, you have all the answers and anyone who disagrees is lost.

By the same token, if we are to speak out against legalism in all its many forms (and we've only scratched the surface in this blog so far), we have to be willing to examine ourselves first. For example, I feel pretty strongly about there not being too many restrictions on dress code or appearance in church. I feel pretty strongly about music or worship styles, how leadership should act, how a pastor's wife should be, yada yada yada. But, and this is critically important, I don't ever want to come across as trying to sound like I have all the answers.

Ultimately it comes down to this for me: I feel strongly about many things with regard to my faith, church, the worship experience, you name it. But I also recognize, and have to recognize, that others can feel just as strongly about those same things in completely different ways. And none of that is wrong. What is wrong is when any one of us decides we have to try to force others to adhere to OUR sense of how something should be when that cannot be directly backed up through Biblical evidence and specific interpretation.

Confused about how something was interpreted? If you are, and if scholars have come up with multiple ideas on something, what should that tell you? It tells you that, most likely, on that issue the Bible wasn't black and white and people are doing their best to understand what it means and that is OK. It also means that this is not an issue critical to your salvation. There are no confusing statements in the Bible with regard to your salvation, to becoming as close to Christ as possible.

This is where legalism most often rears its ugly head, when people decide that issues not critical to salvation are just as important and require their "insight" to be clear to others. Like the person who believes you should wear certain clothing to come to Christ in worship, or the person who believes only hymns should be sung in church (never mind the fact many of the most popular hymns began as bar tunes), their insight is nothing more than a feeling that is important to them.

So, where things are important for you to be able to worship properly, do them. If you feel best coming before Christ in formal attire, do so. If it matters not how you are dressed, with respect to modesty of course, do so. If you cannot feel a closeness in music worship unless the songs are hymns, attend a church where that traditional approach is prevalent. If that doesn't work for you, attend a more modern worship service so you can be fed. Regardless of how you feel about these types of things, you should be assured God created something for everybody to come to Him.

Now don't go pushing your opinion off on the others who don't agree with you and I think you'll find your life is a little happier for it, a little more focused on God and less on you.