Modern Legalism

Since the early days of the church, legalism has often arisen to challenge the grace of salvation. From those first discussions about the necessity of circumcision for salvation, people throughout the ages have sought to require extra action to secure salvation. Often these actions rise out of a desire for control or to assuage the guilt over personal sin. However, I have seen recently a new trend toward a type of legalism which has surprised me. In a number of books which I have read recently, there is a growing trend toward challenging the status quo of the average Christian. This is of course a good action as all Christians should regularly evaluate their lives and character in light of the truths of Scripture. However, each of these books seem to focus extensively on the aspect of giving up material possessions to either live more simply or to support the poor. Let me state first and foremost that those are very good things to do and supported by examples of Scripture. However, I have issue with the growing emphasis on a singular action. The motive is of vital importance to the conversation. No person should give up anything in order for the sole purpose of being more spiritual. Unbalanced focus on the action of giving rather than the Biblical reasons or love for God turn a good thing into a legalistic behavior. We must be careful not to pursue actions of any kind which we undertake in order to gain spiritual acclaim. This can be from daily devotions to tithe to clapping while singing. It is very hard but we need to learn how our relationship with God naturally outflows into our life and let our motives of love drive our actions.