Is All This Adventist Behavior Necessary?

Let's face it, Adventist history has what we often call the "legalistic" era. My dad was raised during that time and many other of my wonderful Adventist friends. My dad tells about being raised by a mother who didn't allow any cooking on Sabbath and on Sabbath morning you got up, put on your church clothes, went to church, came home and ate cold food, then sat in your church clothes and read the Bible until the sun went down.

When I was growing up, we would go to church and then we would either go to potluck or take our picnic lunch and pile into the back of dad's pickup and over the Colorado mountains we would go and enjoy God's nature. I look back on those times and am so thankful for them because this is how my parents used God's second book to teach me of His love.

So just what is legalism? Webster says: "a strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious moral code " I would put it more simply and say that it's when a Christian lets their behavior be the driving factor rather than their relationship with Christ.

Adventists have traditionally been known for being different because of our behavior: we eat different, we go to church on a different day, we don't smoke/drink, etc. I can see how the human nature can take what begins as behaving for the right reasons and let it become the driving force rather than the natural result. And then you have legalism. The great reformers called it justification by works. Adventists believe in justification by faith, not works. Thankfully, from my observations, most Adventists have come past this legalism.

So the question becomes, is all this behavior we are taught really necessary in the Christian life? I say most definitely. I also have observed that there is an unfortunate trend that perhaps the pendulum has swung too far the other direction in that behavior seems to no longer be regarded as necessary, certainly not to a degree which would place Adventists in the "peculiar people" category that we are supposed to be.

There is a prevalent thought process among Christians that since we are saved by grace, the law is no longer necessary to keep. It seems to me that this is the opposite mistake from legalism. Both do not focus on the whole story of salvation. One forgets the fact that Christ alone gives us salvation and the other forgets that as we accept Christ's gift of salvation and truly bring the Lord into our heart, the change of heart which naturally occurs is a desire to live a life according to Christ's standards.

Thus, behavior is necessary: not because our behavior can save us but because we ARE saved. God is love and because of that love; Christ came to live a sinless life, die and overcame death by His resurrection. If we have faith that accepting that sinless life and resurrection in place of our own then the natural result is our love for God will result in us wanting to live a life in tune with the standards of heaven. We can't forgot that it is not just Christ's death and resurrection that save us, it is the fact Christ lived a sinless life and overcame death. A sinless life is required of all. We are incapable of living a sinless life of our own accord. However, we can accept Christ's sinless life in our place and as we grow in our love of Christ, it becomes second nature that we want to keep His commandments. Spend some prayerful time in 1 John.

As we walk through daily life here on planet earth, we are faced with many choices of how to spend our time. Do we spend that time on activities that prepare our character for heaven or merely give us entertainment on this earth?

Enjoy this Ellen White Devotional