The other day, I picked up C.J. Mahaney’s excellent little book Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing. I came across his excellent description of legalism once again and thought I’d share it here for my readers.

When I first read through an earlier version of this book, back in 2005, His thoughts helped me realize the legalistic tendencies I had in my own life. Legalism properly refers to earning God’s grace for justification, but the term can also be used for earning God’s favor in sanctification. And for many in conservative or fundamentalist circles, legalism is a danger to watch out for.

In the book, Mahaney uses an illustration which captures the essence of a performance-based ethic which amounts to Christian legalism. To set the stage for the quote, Mahaney describes a variety show that used to be popular where a man would set various plates spinning on a series of long flexible rods. He’d keep each plate spinning as it would slow down until there were 8 or 10 spinning plates spread precariously all over the stage. Here is the quote now from Mahaney about legalism:

That’s a helpful picture of how legalism can hijack a Christian. The life of a legalist can become just as frenetic as the plate spinner’s performance.

The plates we spin are various spiritual activities–such as bible reading, prayer, or sharing the gospel–that are good and vital in themselves when pursued for the right reasons.

But often without realizing it, we allow a dangerous shift to take place in our mind and heart. We change what God intends as a means of experiencing grace into a means of earning grace. Instead of being a further expression of our confidence in God’s saving work in our life, these spiritual activities become simply more spinning plates to maintain.

When Sunday morning comes, we’ll sing and praise god in church with evident sincerity and zeal when we’ve had a really good week–with not a single plate wobbling.

But on another Sunday, following a week in which several plates crashed, we’re hesitant to approach God and find it difficult to worship freely. We can’t escape the feeling that God disapproves of us. Our confidence is no longer in the gospel; it’s based instead on our own performance, and when that performance slides, so does our peace and joy.

Do you see such signs of legalism in your own life? Do you often find that you’re more aware of your sin than of what Jesus accomplished at the cross? Do you think of God as disappointed with you rather than delighting over you?

Do you lack holy joy? Do you look to your spinning plates for the confidence–indeed, even the right–to approach God?

If you answer yes to any of those questions, you’ve probably begun to live under the tyranny of legalism.

But don’t let this discourage you. God wants to rescue you from the joyless futility of plate spinning through a right understanding of the gospel. (pg. 115-116, bolded emphasis added)

This performance-based, do-it-yourself-Christianity is deadly. It stifles joy, promotes pride, and can cripple spiritually sensitive believers. Be on guard for legalism in your life and in your church.

I know I experienced this (and still tend toward this “practical legalism” even today). What’s your story? Do you think Mahaney says it right here? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.