The Two L Words
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”
John 13:34 NLT
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““I
have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you
obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s
commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you
will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my
commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no
greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:9-13 NLT
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Continuing from a post I wrote a few weeks ago, about Love, I wanted to clarify
the difference between the two L words, love and legalism. Has anybody
experienced legalism in their life?
I love wildflowers, a field of random flowers is my favorite. Of course, flower
gardens that are perfectly pruned and organized in straight even lines, and
pruned with no weeds, are beautiful as well. But there is something about a
field of random flowers, mountain sides covered in orange poppies or fields of
purple lilacs. Something about wildflowers in random clumps along a roadside. These sites fill me with joy and happiness.
If I
dare to compare legalism to a perfect garden. It’s beautiful and pleasing, yet it
takes a lot of work and effort, and sometimes can be overwhelming. When pulling
weeds, sometimes the good flowers get pulled along with unwanted dreaded weeds.
I’ll
then continue to dare to relate wildflowers to love, random places not
expected, controlled entirely by the king and for us to enjoy effortlessly.
Sometimes, the beautiful wildflowers are indeed those dreaded weeds we try to
keep out of our perfect gardens.
I’m by nature a rule follower, always have been. It’s my personality. I love
games, but they better be played by the rules or I will pull out the
instructions and read them to you! And that goes with life, work, school, the
Bible, pretty much anything I do. Before I accepted Christ, I was following the
Bible rules and making it clear to others around me what the Bible has to say
about a particular issue in their life. Then I became a Christian and realized
I couldn’t keep up with all the rules. There were rules in the Bible, rules in
the church, rules in the group I was active in. So many rules that the only
thing they did for me is make me feel guilty. Then I realized, or to better
explain, God revealed to me, that He loves me the way I am. That I can’t
possibly keep all the rules no matter how good they may be. He sees my heart
and knows my intentions as well as my failures. He knew this before He accepted
me as His child and He still loves me. What would happen if I continue worrying
about following the rules? I would be so busy trying to be perfect and beating
myself up because I again missed the mark, that I wouldn’t be of any use to
God. That’s what satan wants. I would also be so busy judging others and
building an attitude wall, that I would be no use to God the way He wants to
use me. That’s exactly where satan wants me and you. God gave His Son Jesus
Christ as a sacrifice, because He knows we can’t be perfect. Jesus left us the
Holy Spirit to comfort us.
It’s sort of like a riddle. The Bible teaches us so many things we should and
shouldn’t do. The Holy Spirit comforts us, leads us and convicts us of what we
should and shouldn’t do. The Bible also teaches us that the greatest
commandment is to love others.
It
can be very confusing!
We must not accept everything as good, no matter how good it seems. We do not
compromise Gods word!
We must not dismiss every guilt we feel, this can be conviction from the Holy Spirit.
We must let God do the judging and know the difference between false guilt, satan’s lies and a healthy life changing guilt.
What does a person do?
Pray!
Grow in relationship with God thru Jesus Christ. Know the Holy Spirit and
listen.
#conviction #falseguilt #personalrelationship #legalism #jesuslovesus