You're probably thinking what I was thinking when Sean-Martin and I drove past this sign somewhere east of the Continental Divide whilst on vacation a couple summers ago:
You had a 14' x 48' blank space and
THIS is what you chose to put on it?
That's 672 square feet in case anybody's interested. 672 square feet that could have been used to remind people to be kind. Or encourage others to feed the poor and care for the widows and the orphans or a phone number to report child abuse. Or, heck, it could have been used to list the eight parts of speech or warn people not to cook bacon naked... anything but this hot mess of a message.
Talk about blowing your wad.
Those in religious circles have a name for this sort of stuff: Legalism. There are a couple of definitions but, basically, it's a strict adherence to a particular set of rules surrounding your religion as opposed to simply being devout to one's own religious faith. Many have described it as placing more value on the letter of the law than the spirit of the law.
Whatever. It doesn't work. I know this for certain. I did life this way for pert-near twenty years, and it's not a sustainable way to do your religion.
And yet here we are... still trying to micromanage how everybody else should live their lives.
One of the things my pastor said about this, and Sabbath in particular, is that we get so legalistic with it that we take away its delight.
Yes, Sabbath should be a delight. It's a gift, like I said last week. Sabbath doesn't have to be observed on any particular day of the week--just make sure that you have one day a week that doesn't look like all the others.
Next week I'm going to talk about what my pastor said Sabbath should look like. It's not about all the things we can't do on the Sabbath--it's about all the things that we get to do! It's NUTS!
(*Note: I steal a lot from my pastor, bless his heart. I go out to different churches to speak and use a lot of his material. He knows this! And he's promised not to sue me! He's a keeper, that guy.)
So here's what ELSE my pastor said about legalism... HA!
I asked him, "Why are we humans so predisposed to legalism?:
You know what he said?
He said, "We fall back into legalism," (are you ready for this?) "because we don't like not knowing if we have done enough."
Did you hear that?
WE DON'T LIKE NOT KNOWING IF WE HAVE DONE ENOUGH.
Wow.
So instead of truly putting our faith in our Creator who loves us, who is for us, we continue to 'help God out' by padding His intentions for us with rules to follow to make us feel just a little safer... because we apparently don't feel safe enough. Or maybe we do it because we like to compare ourselves to each other and we need a measuring stick. Or maybe we do it because we want to exhibit our close proximity to the Almighty--that we're in tight with Him--so that people will look to us for guidance. Maybe they'll even ooh and ahh.
It's all crap. And I've done all that!
God never showed up with any measuring stick with instructions for us to use it against each other or ourselves.
I and many others have done a lot to reject legalism and purge it from our lives. I know many, many fellow sojourners who, with me, try to live our lives in such a way that demonstrates our belief that God has already done enough on our behalf--that we are cherished, accepted, and embraced by Him.
That'll preach, right there. So thanks, Jim.
Next week? THE GOOD STUFF! So tune in.
And subscribe to the blog -- you'll get one free download of either Juxtaposed or Hope Givers which you can keep for yourself or give to a friend.
Really!
Daisy Rain Martin is an author, speaker, advocate, and educator as well as a founding member of The Flying M-Inklings Writing Group. She lives with her husband, Sean-Martin, in the beautiful state of Idaho and teaches English and Literature during the school year to the best 7th graders the world over. Daisy spends her summers writing, speaking, researching, creating, gardening, and canning. Hope Givers: Hope is Here, is the sequel, of sorts, to her comedic, spiritual memoir, Juxtaposed: Finding Sanctuary on the Outside, which was her publisher's (Christopher Matthews) #1 top selling book in 2012. She has also written a free e-book for anyone who has or is currently being sexually abused called, If It’s Happened to You, which appears in its entirety in Hope Givers. Please follow her weekly blog, SATURDAISIES, which addresses a plethora of current issues including child advocacy, all things hilarious, and matters of the heart. She would love for you to join the Rainy Dais Community by friending her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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