People say that Christianity forces them to abide by too many rules. Christians are commonly viewed as “killjoys” and strict “puritans”, not able to simply live life and enjoy the blessings of living without instituting strict rules and restrictions.
However, in a society like ours today, Gospel-centered Christianity offers the most freedom from the law than any other belief system.
Aside from the naturally legalistic religions that require strict obedience to a law to merit holiness and justification, there are many legalistic secular “religions” that require their followers to abide by a certain standard to be accepted. The “cult” of political correctness is one such group.
To be accepted, to be holy, to be justified in the eyes of the public, one must attend to a rigorous standard of not offending anyone, being “woke”, having the appointed attitude and perspective on many different issues and furthermore, not having any history of breaking these sacred commandments.
The Left prides themselves in their sexual freedom, their moral anarchy, but their ranks are actually full of Pharisees. Each seeking an opportunity to pounce on any deviation from the code.
Christians, on the other hand, need not spend their lives looking over their shoulders in fear of crossing the lines in the sand. There is no pharisaical code that binds those saved by Christ. Galatians 5:1 clearly tells Christians that Christ has set us free and that we must be vigilant to not submit again to a “yoke of slavery”. The Christian is no longer bound by law but rather, compelled by his affection for the person of Christ, to love God and love those around him.
Grace does not give us license to rebel, neither does holiness burden us with laborious legalism. Romans 13:8 sums up obedience to Christ, under grace, in this way: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
As our culture prowls about, seeking any infraction to prosecute, we can rest in our freedom in the grace of Christ and move forward in our fulfillment of Christ’s commandments through the active living out of love.