Legalism is a sure thing . . .

Legalism is a sure thing . . .

black and white, rules and tools,

all the borders are tall and rigid with fixed right angles. Legalism is a safe system that makes me feel secure because I never have to worry about being wrong with the correct formula in hand. I never have to wonder or wander from these protected parameters; but then there is that love thing . . .

so untidy.

Love does not come with a script or a map; the margins of this love-life are fluid and wiggly, sometimes feeling good and sometimes not.

There is that humility thing and

that messy self-sacrifice thing, and

the willing-to-lose-the debate thing that makes loving so much more uncomfortable than knowing and playing by all the rules.

Legalism is a sure thing . . .

All that needs to be done is memorize the right creeds, collect the right people, and dispose of any opposition, all with as smug a satisfaction as I can muster, knowing that the niggling convictions will dull with suppression, and empathy will dull with misuse. But then there is that love thing . . .

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1 Corinthians 13:4-6  (J.B. Phillips New Testament)

⁴ This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.

^5-6 Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.