This week I’m adding part two to last week’s blog on recognizing legalism(Recognizing Legalism and its Hidden Dangers), so I can discuss the joy we find when we replace this dreadful drain with the abundant life God wants for us. Satan wants to steal our joy (John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”) Satan uses legalism to trick us into trying to appease God instead of resting in God’s grace. So let’s discover the lies of legalism and toss them out of our lives.
Last week I explained the root of legalism: putting any work or belief in the place of a loving relationship with God and people. Love of God (a heart fully surrendered to him, trusting our salvation comes from Christ alone, not any work) must come first in our lives. No work or belief should be placed first. And when we truly love God, we will love, respect, and protect people, never use them or neglect them. Some people or entire organizations use others, neglecting them, either directly putting them in harm’s way or not sufficiently keeping them out of harm’s way. These people have replaced the love of God with some form of legalism. People’s behaviors begin with their beliefs. Legalism begins in the mind, and then the heart obeys this wrong belief and turns from pure service and devotion to God.
Likely, you know this, and you protect yourself from legalism, so it has little or no impact in your life. And if you want to check for the milder forms of legalism, you can examine your life. For example, if you are pushing yourself (or others) too hard or beyond your (or their) ability, ask God if legalism is prompting your thoughts and actions. If you are often angry, ask God to show you where you have unfair or unrealistic expectations of yourself or your friends.
I doubt you have trouble with the harsh and dangerous legalism I discussed in last week’s post (where legalists cover for abusers who claim they are serving God.) Please do read that post, because today I want to discuss the joy we have when we overcome the more common (and milder) forms of legalism my readers might be swayed by.
Sincere Christians sometimes drift from a close and loving relationship with God to a law-based walk of faith where we tell ourselves, “I should” about more and more activities while serving God. Eventually we feel God won’t be happy if we say, “No.” The Bible actually uses the verb “drift” in the New Living Translation in Hebrews 2:1, “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.”
I said, in last week’s post, I believe the answer to resisting legalism is abiding in Christ. See my 3 posts where I deal with abiding in the Lord and savoring our loving relationship with God, (Why Abiding in the Lord is Hard, Abiding in the Lord, part 2 Resisting the Blocks to Our Rest, Abiding in the Lord, part 3 Enjoying the Peace.) From the love and joy God pours into us, we overflow with love for others.
Learning about our personality styles helps us know our God-given motivation. Feel free to review my posts (Difficult Person or Different Personality?, No Favorite Child: Intro to personalities and temperament, Four Greek temperaments, Love Languages: love preferences) where I discuss these and guide gals to see where their abilities lie. For example, an introverted person might pressure herself, via legalism, to work with many, many people. Yet she will wear herself out, because God never called her to do that. God built her for a quieter environment, often where she can minister one-on-one. I actually heard legalists who tried to force me to give up my work as a writer when I was at the Christian organization I mentioned last week. Those people claimed Jonah, the prophet was forced to give up his work and do work he didn’t want to do. But those people were dead wrong. Read Jonah for yourself. He was never forced to become a stone mason or a shepherd or pursue any other career. He continued to be a prophet. He just had to go, one time, to prophesy to a people he did not like. The legalists who suggested God wanted me to give up my writing career said this would enable an “important man” who really enjoyed his career for God, to have his own secretary. He wanted to keep doing what he loved but steal my joy from me. My bachelor’s degree is in writing, and I had worked hard to attain my career. And please notice, the legalists who demanded I surrender my joy never told the “important man” to give up his joy. I was considered expendable, less valuable, because they felt the man’s work was better than mine.
I am so glad to say I saw through their misinterpretation of Scripture and did not sacrifice my career for some “important” man’s convenience. Too many men in that organization tried to get the young women to sacrifice their dreams, while these men kept their own dreams. They distorted Scripture. We must be “as wise as serpents, though as gentle as doves,” (Matt. 10:16) and really know our scriptures and also know ourselves.
There should never be a hierarchy in the church or in Christian organizations where some people’s dreams are squashed and they are forced to serve others who consider themselves more valuable, Phils.2:3, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” This should never occur in marriage either, and it has not occurred in my current marriage, though I’ve heard of it in other homes. A wife might temporarily choose to put all or part of her career on hold to raise a family, but eventually the children become independent, and a mom can still have dreams and a career. No marriage should be based upon the man happily pursuing his dream at the expense of his wife ever pursuing the dreams God gave her too.
And it is essential to know God gives us giftings. Look at 1Peter4:10,” As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” and Roms.12:16a, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them,” and Roms.11:29, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” These are not a woman’s vain dreams. God gives real dreams to gals, and these gals are not to be used as another person’s slave. Our gifting is for God’s glory, not man’s glory. God gives us desires to use our gifts. We are allowed to stand up to legalists who want to take those gifts from us. Those legalists are tools of Satan, trying to steal our joy. But when we trust in God to guide us, he truly will. This is why we need to know our spiritual gifts, and also our temperament/personality. When we accept who God has made us to be and embrace who we are, then we will know what we like and what we dislike. For example, I do not enjoy the science of Physics. But I really like the life sciences (health, biology, etc.) When I was tutoring, I never offered to tutor anyone in Physics. How much more should this be true in our Christian faith. We are encouraged, by God, to use our gifts as he gave them.
For example, at my church, there is a wonderful couple, and both the wife and husband bless our church. The wife is involved as a leader in the women’s ministry. She is a leader by nature, strong, confident, extroverted. Her husband is more of a one-on-one person. He does not want to be out in the more “public” eye and he loves to help at our church via the cleaning program. We have volunteers who clean the church so we don’t have to hire janitors. In this way, our church saves huge amounts of money, and we can give it to the poor and to missions instead. This man is proud of his wife and also very content serving in the background. They are a happy and well balanced, peaceful couple. They model serving God in their own strengths, not via legalism, and their marriage thrives as each individual member of the marriage thrives.
If you have suffered under pressure to do “work for God” that exhausted and drained you, you may have been working outside the areas where God wanted you to work for him. If you struggle to know how God can use you, think of the ways you find intense joy outside of church service. Whatever those activities are, they give you a clue about how God can use your talents. You really can find that kind of joy in serving the Lord. God called us to have peace and joy as we serve him.
OK, sometimes we may get tired, even when we serve from our gifting. I love children and teaching (teaching in high school was my second career after I left the Christian organization, and my Master’s Degree is in Special Education on top of my teaching credentials). But some days I might be tired and less enthusiastic about teaching Sunday School (called KidzKrew at my church, since we also have services on Sat. night). But that might simply be human laziness or fatigue if I am already tired that day. Yet when I still go and teach the children, I eventually find my energy returns, and I find I am really enjoying those sweet children (even when some misbehave). Serving the Lord, just like every day life, will have its ups and downs.
Furthermore, you might think the ministry you are called to pursue is too hard or beyond your strength, even though you want to do it. If God truly gave you the desire, he is more than able to equip you. For example in 2Cor12:9, God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Just be careful to know God truly called you and not a legalist who distorts Scripture. Legalists might take that Scripture and say, “Yes, you hate doing that. Yes you are not gifted that way, but God can make you strong where you are weak, so you have to do that ministry,” when God did not call you. You are allowed to listen to God’s heart when you are alone and determine if that ministry is truly in your gifting.
More time serving God should be filled with joy not sadness, just like a famous business principle called the 60% 40% theory. This theory says we need to enjoy at least 60% of our job to feel content. Then we can slog through the 40% of things we enjoy less (or not at all). I believe this needs to be true in Christian ministry, and the couple I mentioned really prove that. They both fit needs at our church. God can direct you in the same way so you can enjoy serving him. You might need to serve people, like the Ninevites, whom Jonah found hard to minister to. But there will also be people who bless you as you serve God. The key is to listen to the Holy Spirit as he guides you through your interests and then find where needs exist that fit your gifting. You may even feel a deep concern for needs and urge your church to do something. They might tell you to see if you can do that thing. Sometimes our desires are spurred by what we see around us. We just need to be ready to do what God truly calls us to do, and not what legalists try to force upon us.
I pray I have blessed you with this post and gave you ideas of how to minister from your calling, to God’s glory. When we pursue the dreams God gave us, he gets the glory and we really enjoy our service for him.