Nothing can choke the heart and soul out of walking with God like legalism. Legalism is the notion that a person is accepted by God on the basis of his law keeping. All human beings are predisposed to it. Many forms of legalism have arisen throughout history. Jesus knows we have bad memories, so He put the whole of the Ten Commandments into two. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." "Love your neighbor as yourself." In contrast, the Pharisees had developed a system of 613 laws, 365 negative commands and 248 positive laws. The true story is told some years ago of a pastor who found the roads blocked one Sunday morning and was forced to skate on the river to get to church, which he did. When he arrived the elders of the church were horrified that their preacher had skated on the Lord's day. After the service they held a meeting where the pastor explained that it was either skate to church or not go at all. Finally one elder asked, "Did you enjoy it?" When the preacher answered, "No," the board decided it was all right! Spurgeon said this, "I have found, in my own spiritual life, that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit."
