Legalism or love

I am not a legalist. I don't believe that ANY works of man can somehow contribute to salvation. Jesus died on that old rugged cross to purchase fully my pardon. There is nothing else required of me to be truly saved than to believe that He is indeed the Son of God and He died for my sins. Legalism adds to that definition of salvation anything that has the appearance of being holy. If driving your car too fast is not holy, than you are not "truly" saved if you speed. If being overweight is not holy, than you are not "truly" saved if you overeat. If television is not holy, then you are not "truly" saved unless you throw out your TV. You see, legalism wants to add to the message of salvation. It wants to judge whether or not people are saved by whether they believe in Christ and do all the right things. That is not the picture given in the Bible.

However, let us, who call ourselves Christians, not assume that because our salvation doesn't hang on how holy our lives are that we are free to live unholy lives. Yes, indeed, we are free in Christ. Paul talks extensively about our freedom in the Lord in 1 Corinthians 8, but he gives a caution that we must never allow our freedom cause another person to stumble. So we have to be careful how we exercise this freedom in Christ.

And there are many people who say we are covered by the grace of God, therefore our sins have been cleansed and we can live as we want to. In Romans 6:1-2 Paul writes, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin live in it? I love the concept of grace. That we are given what we do not deserve. And we need to be very aware that we don't need to keep on "not deserving" the gift of grace.

Legalism would add to salvation, but discipline comes from the Lord. In a local church, it is imperative that sin is pointed out. That we hold one another accountable to the Bible. It is our guidebook. It is the very words of our God. And if, in the words of the Bible, something is wrong in our brother or sister's life, then we should lovingly point out where the problem is. It should never come from a sense of superiority or spite, but from a heartfelt desire for our brother or sister to have the fullness of God on their lives. God can not tolerate sin. That is why the wages of sin is death. The only covering for sin is Jesus' blood, but that doesn't free us to sin because it is already covered. We are still called to a higher standard. And when we are reminded of that standard, we should be grateful and seek to be obedient to God.

Helping Christian brothers and sisters to identify sin in their lives is not legalism, it is love.