Daily Fenelon > Avoid Legalism
Avoid Legalism
Combine a great amount of exactness with your great freedom. Learn not to exaggerate anything. Speak the truth without embellishment, but do not be hard with it. If you lean too much toward being exact, you will become legalistic. If you try to be free without holding high standards for yourself, you will soon become lazy and careless.
To be truly faithful you must totally obey God. Follow the light which points out the way you should go. Intend to please God in all things. Don't just try to get by with the least amount of obedience. Do the most you can do to please God. I want to tell you, however, not to get caught up trying to figure out if you have committed a "big" sin or a "little" sin. Give everything to God and you will have no need to evaluate your every action.
Don't be depressed when you fail. Just pick yourself up and start all over again. God has a lot of patience with you—learn to have patience with yourself. God will perfect you in His own time. There is no use in always looking over your shoulder to see what has gone wrong. Press on to what is ahead with humility. God is not a spy looking to surprise you. He is not an enemy lurking in the shadows to hurt you. God is your Father who loves you, and wants to help you if you will but trust in His goodness.
It is far better to depend on God to help you because you really cannot help yourself, and neither can you help anyone else on this earth. Trust God and find the path of true freedom.
So I once again say that exactness and freedom go hand in hand. With you I would think that your freedom is outweighed by your strictness. But on the other hand, you are not as strict and committed to total obedience in all areas as I could hope. Learn to trust God and open yourself completely to Him. Completely yield to God as He draws you to Himself.
Do not be afraid to lose sight of yourself and see Him alone. How happy you would be if you were to completely plunge into that ocean of Love. Accept, with a humble heart, all the grace that God pours out to you. This will prepare you, as Teresa of Avila says, for new and fresh gifts from God.
