Freedom From Legalism

My own journey from legalism to a life of grace 

has been a long and arduous one.

  Naturally a controlling, critical type of woman,

I easily found my comfort in a legalistic lifestyle, 

working out my own righteousness in extra-biblical rules

(enslavements)

that allowed me to think too highly of myself

and look down my nose at those poor souls who were not willing

to live a more holy life, as I saw it. 

What this looked like was taking biblical principles 

and adding to them until I had a hard and fast rule to live by,

such as “dresses only.” 

The Bible clearly teaches that women should look like women and not men,

be feminine, and have a wholesome appearance,

being appropriately dressed. 

I noticed, when I was in an apple tree pruning,

that my denim jumper was not all that appropriate. 

This was also true tossing hay bales, riding the 4 wheeler or my horse,

or climbing bleachers in a gymnasium.

In Fact, in these cases, wearing a dress

made me more immodest than wearing pants. 

This presented me with quite a problem in my keeping

the “rules of righteousness” as I saw them.  

Then, I visited a friend from college whom I had not seen in 15 years. 

Imagine my shock when I discovered her children

to be the most respectful, obedient, kind children I had ever been around,

and it completely upset my legalistic world to find that

they were public schooled!!! 
The Lord used this experience much like  a 2x4 on the side of my head.  Something was wrong with my system of holiness. 

I was convicted about my sinful pride in assuming 

that I could follow a list of do’s and don’ts

and it would make me more Christ-like.  

This was all dashed to ruins as I considered my dear, sweet friend from college, a beautiful feminine woman, with a true gentle and quiet spirit who also wore….PANTS! 

Truly, the man looks at the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Sam 16:7)

The truth of the matter is, God loves us so much that

WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS

Christ died for us. 

He couldn’t possibly love us more than he does at the cross,

and it doesn’t matter what we do, he will never love us more.  

The Bible tells us that God hates pride,

yet nowhere does it say that he hates women who wear pants. 

Jesus lived with grace to those he ministered to,

and he despised the Pharisees with their extra Biblical rules of holiness,

calling them white washed sepulchers. 

How I ever managed to overlook the mote in my eye,

I don’t know, but I am so grateful for that 2x4, 

for God’s cleansing power to forgive the pride in my life,

and for ridding me yet more and more each year of my critical spirit. 

It is humbling to realize that we are all a mess, 

with nothing of value to offer a holy God. 

It is pointless to try to dress up our pride with a pretty bow 

and offer it to God as a gift.  That is how I see living in legalism.

Now, we teach our daughters to be modest,

self controlled and wholesome in their appearance,

but more importantly,

that what God really values in a woman is the content of her heart;

kindness, meekness, gentleness and trust in Him.

  Now, to be sure, homeschooling is not, in and of itself, 

the path to godly children. 

Instead, living humble and teachable before your children, 

letting God be your Savior instead of a myriad of idols,

(such as self significance or family reputation),

gives far more promise for the next generation

than a list of do‘s and don‘ts. 

You can do that whether you homeschool, private school, or public school.

My husband adds:

” The advantage to homeschooling is your children

can see you LIVE with God all the time. 

That can be really good or really BAD… 

depending on your insistence on self-righteous law keeping

or living life in the presence of God and your children watching you

love Him and being loved in return… without all the list keeping.”

 Having said that, I mostly wear dresses and we homeschool.
 We do try to shelter our children until they reach a higher maturity level,

so they can stand in godly convictions in the world.
 We do endeavor to follow Phil 4 as a guideline

for everything that comes in our home.

However, we are free from having to follow a list of rules

to be pleasing to the Lord,

and are lavished by his grace as we seek to love Him

and live a cross centered, repentance oriented life.

  The bad attitudes of criticism and superiority fade in the distance

as we dropped the cloak of legalism

in exchange for the freedom  to be loved by God no matter what.