equal is not equal

Right beside hypocrites, I think legalist are two of the top reasons people don't like Christians or don't won't to go to church. Tonight, Dr. Brunson's message was out of 1 Cor 13; I wish I could as eloquently join this passage to the Fruit of the Spirit as he did. Something that he did say that I dwelled on and has stayed with me through out this evening is "Legalism is a sad, cheap imitation for the Fruit of the Spirit"

Up to this point, I have not really been comfortable with calling people legalistic or using the term. In the way most people use the word, I was raised with some degree of legalism in my life, along with many people I am close to. I used to excuse it by using the definition I understood; Legalism is only when someone thinks that following their list of religious rules brings salvation. I can not say that I or anyone I am close to has ever come across that extreme degree of legalism!

Back to the Sermon, Dr Brunson was preaching on the Church of Corinth, how they were so blessed with spiritual gifts but there was a lack of Spiritual maturity. I guess that is where the connection of legalism comes! *now I remember, The Fruit of the Spirit is how we can see the presence of God in someones life not by the rules they live by or cling to* He in no way spent the whole sermon on legalism, which I am glad for. I don't like bashing legalist because they are just misguided brothers/sisters in Christ and need to be approached with a great degree of love/patience.

Walking away from the message tonight, I really was able to expand my definition of legalism. (I know this is not in anyway new to most of you but I will continue bloggin.) Legalism is also when someone believes themselves to be spiritually mature because of the rules/convictions they follow and think that those that do not uphold their rules/convictions are not spiritual.

I know in my own life it is much easier to feel spiritually mature because i have checked off the list of things I do (all of which I usually find easy to do anyway) But, how is my relationship with Christ, do I have a pure heart? I don't think I have ever gone as far as to judge others spiritual life by my own set of rules but I do need to examine my personal legalism. Replace it with a deeper relationship with Jesus and not such a superficial spiritual life as the one produced by following rules.

I am still left hanging with how this effects the raising of my children. I want them to obey their authorities and the Word of God. I have outlined many rules I want them to follow now and already have worked out some of the dreaded list of rules I want them to follow in the years to come! I don't want to raise my kids in a legalistic home. I have seen in SO many people how legalism causes them to leave the church and disconnect from the family when they have their own freedoms. I sometimes find my self favoring legalism because myself and my husband turned out 'good' (by the legalistic view point) so it must have worked and saved us from public sins that so often destroy a person.

However, my ultimate prayer is that my children will discover the love God has for them and in return fall in love with Him. When you are in love with God you want to please him and you seek Him for the way you should live your life and not a set of rules. But, I want to cling to those rules until they find this out for themselves lol.

Someone needs to write or recommend me a book that really teaches me how to raise good kids without legalism because in many ways that is the model I have for raising good kids and I don't want to take the chance that my kids will turn out 'good' just like me or Daniel. I know, aside from daily prayer over my parenting life and seeking in the scripture there is no better way to learn how to raise a family but it would be nice to have some supplemental material. lol.