Galatians 5:1 :

Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

I believe that one of the biggest problems we have as Christians is the attack of legalism against Christian freedom. True Christians are free ones, and by that, I mean the ones that realize that the Christian life is not lived by trying to be good for God, but instead, trust God to make them good.

Sin is a kind of slavery that we can see clearly when we try to follow rules. When we try to prove ourselves to God, sin takes over and we find that we have no power to combat it. Sin is an addiction that we can’t stop by our own power.

The alarming thing about religious legalism, is that it can actually help you sin more instead of less. Jesus died to take away our sin and to free us from legalism which encourages us to take action without God’s help in order to help God out. Don’t let religion put you in jail when you should be living the free Christian life. It’s no wonder that Satan likes religion so much. God has power over religion in our lives lives as long as our lives are in Christ. Just as He saved us from Hell, He keeps us from sinning. It has nothing to do with anyone’s religious system.

Standing firm is to oppose the systems in the world around us. Not only are there many kinds of legal systems imposed by religious groups, there are also legal systems imposed by those who don’t even believe in God! There are humanistic religions that preach that we should follow all kinds of rules in order to protect the earth, society or even fight against other religions. They obviously don’t realize that things won’t get better by setting up a non-biblical legal system. They have probably never understood what the Bible says about how legalism helps to cause failure by exciting rebellion. It is not very reasonable for imperfect people to attempt to create their own system of righteousness. Only a perfect God can create a good one.

Now is the time for us to take off our chains. We shouldn’t give in to these religious systems. We should obey the truth of the Gospel and let Jesus give us success in our Christian lives. We need to recognize that we died with Christ and He lives in us and that only by trust in His life can we actually overcome our addiction to sin. If we let God live in us, we are free. Since you already died in Christ, you are free forever and Christ’s love can now shine out through you which is what the law could never accomplish.