“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean…In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matt. 23: 25-26, 28.
Jesus was rightfully accusing the Pharisees of legalism over the law of love. He was challenging them to discard their inner selfishness and operate in the truth with love for God as their motivator. None of us as Christians wish to admit that we walk the path of legalism vs. the path of love. Legalism is walking in Christianity out of a sense of obligation and image.
For me the image of a Christian was put in place from birth. I knew intuitively from my grandparents, parents, pastors and teachers what was required by the Bible. This legalistic view, while it was important to understand God’s commands, was void of love and devotion to God as the sole motivator. Before February of 2006, I marched to a legalistic tune of ‘can not’s, do not’s, and better not’s.’ We can never live up to the Christian standard when living a life of legalism. I did what I was told out of obligation and desire for my ‘cup and dish’ to appear clean. When God called me to ‘do some spiritual dishes’ and really got in there and cleaned out my heart, I realized how veiled my walk had been with legalism. The veil was lifted and my journey is now powered with the ‘want to’s and the privileged to’s.’
Legalism walks in an obligatory and mundane march but love soars above in a panoramic life giving flight. Until my walk was powered with love for God over the image of being a Christian, I was just making noise in my testimonies.
‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.’ 2 Co. 13:1
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