Rules, Legalism, and Freedom

When I first became a Christian, and even before I really was one but was still reading the Bible, I read the Old Testament, especially books like Leviticus, with much confusion. I wondered what on earth not eating meat with blood in it, the type and number of animals to be sacrificed and when, or the way a man trimmed his hair and beard had to do with anything, much less a person's walk and relationship with God.

I heard a sermon recently that shed some light on this, and it makes a lot more sense now. Many analogies and references have been made to God as a father figure, and in the Old Testament, that's exactly what He had to be, because Jesus hadn't yet come. When a child is young, there are many things they don't know and can't possibly understand, so they must be given rules and regulations that are age-appropriate in order to protect them as they grow and mature. As a child grows up, the rules are gradually relaxed until they are mature enough to make decisions on their own. That's the way it was with the people in the Old Testament. Being as spiritually immature as they were, they couldn't possibly understand God's message of love, mercy and grace by faith as communicated by Jesus and others in the New Testament. The many laws that were put in place were there to teach them the right way to do things until the time when the people knew the right thing to do on their own. That doesn't mean that the laws are ever wrong or that they ever lose their value, it just means they aren't going to always be necessary, nor are they the end-all, be-all of a person's life and spiritual existence. Simply following doctrine is legalism, and not one person has ever been or will ever be saved because they are a good enough rule-follower, and that's where lots of folks miss the forest for the trees.

That got me to thinking about how many new Christians I've known (myself included) who, in their zeal to spread the Good News, probably turned off a lot of people by forcing the Bible and Scripture onto folks right on the front end. People who are broken, hurting, and in need of God don't want to hear a bunch of laws that sound like another self-help book from the neighborhood bookstore...they want someone to love them, to be there for them, etc. There's always time to talk and debate about Biblical laws and principles, about what exactly constitutes doing the right thing, etc., but we may only get one chance to show love, mercy, or understanding to someone. If we waste that time preaching to the broken about how bad they are because they didn't follow all the rules, they may be lost forever, and that's the last thing God wants.

In addition to its utility in the spiritual realm, I think the concept of starting from a more legalistic, rule-based approach to life has its merits and its place. For example, it's a good thing to start with a budget to get your finances in order or an exercise plan to get in better physical shape, especially if we've been undisciplined doing such things in the past in the absence of a clear plan. Budgets, exercise plans, etc. are great tools we can use to help parent ourselves until maturity arrives, but compliance with them is only a means to an end, not the end itself. What we're really after is the freedom to use some of our money to enjoy more of what life has to offer, or the financial flexibility to help others, or a better physical appearance to improve self-esteem, or better health to prolong our lives.

As we grow up along the way of whatever journey we're traveling, the strict rules we once held so dear can be replaced by the intrinsic value of successfully achieving goals in a way that's uniquely useful for us. That's when we have flexibility to tweak our exercise routine to fit our life because we know we won't quit working out if we miss one day at the gym; when we can go out to eat on a whim without wrecking our finances; or best of all, when we can be open and flexible enough to chart our own unique spiritual course without worrying about legalistic condemnation, boldly and confidently following where we believe God is taking our heart in a way that might not make sense to or work for anyone else.

The moral of the story is this: there's no real joy in just following the rules, even if it gets us to a good place. Worse yet, if we spend time beating ourselves up over the few times we fell short of the rules (and we all do, have, and will), we may get discouraged and quit; or even if we do achieve our goal, we might not be able to enjoy it as we should. I think as we get farther along in our respective journeys and we start to see some good results, the structure imposed by whatever rules we're following becomes much less important than it was at the beginning of the journey. The rules once served the purpose of control, guiding us toward a more generalized version of success because we had no idea where to start.

Being able to fully enjoy the big, great things in life because we trust God and our heart more every day to know the right thing do, and to be able to do so without being suffocated by a million rules (because they're now being taken care of and their purposes fulfilled in the natural course of our journey anyway) is the very definition of freedom. It is truly one of the most liberating places to be in life, and it's my sincere hope and prayer that everyone gets there.