I had a conversation with a friend today that wandered into talking about Legalism. The idea that we can follow certain rules, and by doing so, we follow God.

We as human beings really want to “get it right”. We want a formula and steps that we can be assured will lead to our desired outcome. This idea isn’t contained to religion alone; we want to know which grades we need to get into which school, so we can get the job that will provide for and get us the house and spouse and dog and kids, and ensure we have a comfy retirement home.

We want to know which diet is the best to get us the best body.

We want to know which laptop will best suit our needs.

We want to know exactly how much money we need saved up and what kind of credit we need to get a house.

We want to know what rules to follow and what practices to engrain in our daily lives to please the Lord. We want to know exactly how much skin is okay to show at the beach, how much time to read our bibles each day, which prayers to pray, which person to vote for…the list goes on and on.

Is this ideal of perfection even achievable? I would argue that it is not, and here’s why. The goal of walking with the Lord is not to “Get it Right”.

The goal of walking with the Lord….is walking with the Lord.

We see this clearly displayed in the life of the religious leaders in the days of Jesus. If it were possible to please God by following rules and regulations, they would have been the ones to do it! But instead, Jesus refers to them as a brood of vipers (Matthew 3:7, 12:34), empty white-washed tombs (Matthew 23:27-28).

They had lost the relational and spiritual parts of relationship with the Father, for over-zealousness of rules and regulations.

They got lost in the weeds of trying to “Get it right”.

So what’s my alternative direction to point you in? It is surely not to spurn all rules, practices, boundaries or regulations. To the contrary, it is a commonly acknowledge believe among the body of Christ that it is wise and good to have regular practices such as quiet time, corporate worship and church attendance, prayer time, etc.

Sounds like I’m arguing you back into rules and practices, doesn’t it? I know, I know, it’s taking me a hot second to get to the point. We ADHD people tend to have these issues–SQUIRREL!!

But I digress.

The issue of legalism in my view, hinges on one thing: where the believers confidence in their salvation lies.

If I believed that praying every day, keeping the Sabbath, or listening only to certain kinds of music held sway over my salvation, you bet your last dollar I would never miss prayer time, make sure I didn’t violate the sabbath, and put strict perimeters on my Spotify playlists.

So we come to the issue of the Gospel. What does the Gospel have to say about where out security lies and what part we have to play in it?

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

What I think is so interesting about this passage, is the use of legal/financial terms used to describe our inheritance of salvation. Two things can be true at once, and I think we see this at work here; it is true that at the moment we accept Christ, we are sanctified and restored to relationship with the Father. It is also true that we will never be fully sanctified (without sin) until we reach glory. And at that time we will have possession of our ultimate inheritance in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord that I’m not the one responsible for holding that!

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Romans 4:4-5

This verse I’ve always thought was a little more scary that it was comforting, and I’ll tell you why. If I get caught up in legalism/works…I will only get from God exactly what I deserve. This passage says it plainly, to the one who tries to work out his own righteousness, his wages are his due. But to the one who believes, his faith alone is counted as righteousness, just like Abraham.

So again, what’s my point? Clearly, we need to believe first and foremost in Jesus Christ, the son of the one true God, as our Lord and Savior. We cannot trust in works, other doctrines, or our own righteousness (lol) to save us.

…but we still live in this world and need to make decisions about what to do. I get it. Trust me.

I would argue that the solution to getting it right is this.

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

That my seem like an over-simplification, but scripture spells it out clearly. There are numerous other areas over the new Testament where Paul and other authors spell out simply walking with and trusting in the Lord as the fundamental most important practice we can have.

To think that we can reverse this process with success is, put bluntly, wrong. We cannot know the will of the Father and what pleases Him, if we are not first walking closely with Him, and deeply saturated in His word. It then follows that if we are in alignment with Him, we will be shown what is His good and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

As a downstream of that alignment, we may very well be shown by the Father habits and practices that are good for our souls and pleasing to Him. But it is crucial that we start first with relationship and alignment with the Father through His word, before seeking to develop habits. It is even more crucial that we do not view the habits or practices that we develop as contributing to our salvation in any way.

Habits and practices may, and should, have an affect on our continued sanctification–that is, making us look more like the Christ–but our salvation is a separate issue that is sealed and held by Him. If we have come to saving faith and are sealed with Christ, His seal on us and blood over us is so complete so as to make any effort we put forth to make it more-so, laughable.

The point is relationship-motivated obedience, and Holy Spirit led action, not action that leads to relationship and security.

So to answer the question this post asks…yes, Christians can “Get it Right”. If, by “Get it Right”, you mean walking with the Lord.

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14

He who is mighty has done a great thing!

-M