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accomplish in our lives will impress or bless God is foolishness. Rather He wants to be a part of every
aspect of our lives. It is a difficult concept to understand that nothing is too small in our lives for God to
be disinterested. How often have I lost things only to pray earnestly to the Lord and immediately have an
impression of where to look for the lost item and lo, there it would be!
So the opposite of living under legalism is simply living with our eyes on the Lord with His word
stowed away in our hearts, being guided by His Spirit, His word stowed away in us so the Holy Spirit can
always access the word of God that has become a part of us though we do not even think of it at the
moment. Yet, we are guided by it in His Spirit as we live out our lives.
So what do you do if those around you operate under the law, continually trying to live by the letter
of the law, the law as they interpret it and also putting you under the law as well? (The law being
whatever they say it is!) What does one do if others continually hedge you about by all these laws and
rules as opposed to teaching you to walk by and in the Spirit following the law of God which He has
stowed away within you? What if they are always pressing you to observe this or that in order to become
holy? The best response is to flee! Get out while you can!
Now you may think that is extreme but let us look at again at the book of Galatians: Gal 5:4 (NKJV)
“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from
grace.” Now what does Paul mean, “estranged from Christ” and “fallen from grace”? The first thing we
can say is that this condition is not at all good! By the best interpretation, this is not good. In the worst
case, we may think he could mean we have lost our salvation and are eternally damned. In the best case it
at least means we have gone our own way, though continuing in Christ, and are no longer operating under
the leadership of Christ through the Holy Spirit and we are no longer operating under the covering of His
grace.
Of all the things a Christian might lose, it seems like the covering of God’s grace might be among the
most important. Not walking with and in the Spirit of God sent by the Father and by the Lord Jesus seems
to be a very bad situation. So no matter how we interpret it, if we have begun to walk under the law, we
are outside the grace of God. And that is a terrible situation for any believer!
So allowing someone to substitute law in your life for the grace of God and operating in fellowship
with Him is a severe condition to allow. So again I say, flee! Get away from such a place. Go and
fellowship with believers who walk close to the Lord and in fellowship with Him, with believers who
have God’s word stowed away in their hearts so that they no longer use the bible as a rule book but as a
guide to God’s working with His creation down through the centuries. Go and be with believers who love
God above all, who hear His voice in their hearts and constantly desire to do His will in their lives - a life
lived out in intimate fellowship with Him.
Are we reducing the importance of God’s written word in our lives? Not at all. Paul is quite clear in
the following verse: 2Tim 3:16 (NKJV) “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”
So it is there for us but it is still not to be used as a rule book to replace the continuous guiding hand
of the Holy Spirit. If this sounds too complicated, it is not. We read, we study, and we meditate on God’s
word daily. But then we look to the Spirit of Christ working in us to guide us to outwork the will of God
completely in our lives. We live a life knowing we belong to Him, that we are His children, that He
desires the very best for us and that He intends to accomplish that through our submitting ourselves
completely to Him.
It is not that we ignore His written word, but that we have allowed Him to put it in our hearts as He
expressly promised in Hebrews 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
aspect of our lives. It is a difficult concept to understand that nothing is too small in our lives for God to
be disinterested. How often have I lost things only to pray earnestly to the Lord and immediately have an
impression of where to look for the lost item and lo, there it would be!
So the opposite of living under legalism is simply living with our eyes on the Lord with His word
stowed away in our hearts, being guided by His Spirit, His word stowed away in us so the Holy Spirit can
always access the word of God that has become a part of us though we do not even think of it at the
moment. Yet, we are guided by it in His Spirit as we live out our lives.
So what do you do if those around you operate under the law, continually trying to live by the letter
of the law, the law as they interpret it and also putting you under the law as well? (The law being
whatever they say it is!) What does one do if others continually hedge you about by all these laws and
rules as opposed to teaching you to walk by and in the Spirit following the law of God which He has
stowed away within you? What if they are always pressing you to observe this or that in order to become
holy? The best response is to flee! Get out while you can!
Now you may think that is extreme but let us look at again at the book of Galatians: Gal 5:4 (NKJV)
“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from
grace.” Now what does Paul mean, “estranged from Christ” and “fallen from grace”? The first thing we
can say is that this condition is not at all good! By the best interpretation, this is not good. In the worst
case, we may think he could mean we have lost our salvation and are eternally damned. In the best case it
at least means we have gone our own way, though continuing in Christ, and are no longer operating under
the leadership of Christ through the Holy Spirit and we are no longer operating under the covering of His
grace.
Of all the things a Christian might lose, it seems like the covering of God’s grace might be among the
most important. Not walking with and in the Spirit of God sent by the Father and by the Lord Jesus seems
to be a very bad situation. So no matter how we interpret it, if we have begun to walk under the law, we
are outside the grace of God. And that is a terrible situation for any believer!
So allowing someone to substitute law in your life for the grace of God and operating in fellowship
with Him is a severe condition to allow. So again I say, flee! Get away from such a place. Go and
fellowship with believers who walk close to the Lord and in fellowship with Him, with believers who
have God’s word stowed away in their hearts so that they no longer use the bible as a rule book but as a
guide to God’s working with His creation down through the centuries. Go and be with believers who love
God above all, who hear His voice in their hearts and constantly desire to do His will in their lives - a life
lived out in intimate fellowship with Him.
Are we reducing the importance of God’s written word in our lives? Not at all. Paul is quite clear in
the following verse: 2Tim 3:16 (NKJV) “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”
So it is there for us but it is still not to be used as a rule book to replace the continuous guiding hand
of the Holy Spirit. If this sounds too complicated, it is not. We read, we study, and we meditate on God’s
word daily. But then we look to the Spirit of Christ working in us to guide us to outwork the will of God
completely in our lives. We live a life knowing we belong to Him, that we are His children, that He
desires the very best for us and that He intends to accomplish that through our submitting ourselves
completely to Him.
It is not that we ignore His written word, but that we have allowed Him to put it in our hearts as He
expressly promised in Hebrews 8:10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
