Legalism...It Will Kill You

    Many years ago I learned the hard truth about being on the fringe of a society that makes it hard to succeed when one doesn't have means.   It is in fact a circle of frustration. No job=no money=no phone=no # for anyone to get ahold of you = a less than trustworthy individual to get hired.  Not necessarily true but just true enough to not get ahead and that much harder to establish oneself.  I did anyway...wasn't easy.
     I was reminded of that today when due to an unlikely computer crash...at my local super-market it took my money off of a credit system  with no proof I paid and left me to pay with what cash I had on hand.  It also froze up my account with that creditor and so took 2 hours of my day to get it back, meanwhile one who had the power to correct the situation with little or no trouble began their l-e-g-a-l-i-s-t-i-c ways of doing things!  We need proof.....that this happened....while in reality it happened right before her eyes and was witnessed by at least 5 others, no matter, we need proof she said and ....in a statement from the bank!  That would take weeks and as I scratched my head and became slightly jaded again because she knew me and knew me for years of shopping there!  This might seem like a small matter, but in reality shows the nature of man.
 Legalism is deadly. It had Christ crucified at the hands of Gentile Romans getting the Jewish  leaders off the hook in regards to their 'Law". " The letter kills but the spirit gives life."  Never a more true argument to be considered for all time.  The grace of God in sending his spirit into our lives lets us live a higher calling when faced with matters of our government, and local societal law that would otherwise stifle us daily.  Though Christ taught us to comply and obey those over us there is a line to be crossed at some point.  This past week gave us another view of a man whose conscience dictated breaking his allegiance to high governmental authorities in favor of leaking news that our government is collecting data on us in mass amounts.  Privacy being the concern, and constitutional rights being infringed upon. Right now he has no safe harbor. Whether he is Christian or not I do not know yet he obeyed a higher internal calling. If it harms us in the intelligence field that remains to be seen.
I do know that the letter of the law cannot be kept perfectly in any way, shape, or form.  Get a traffic ticket? You broke the law!  Paid the water bill late? You get a fine and rarely talk your way out of it.  Innocently forgot to pay that ticket, get a bench warrant and then get put in jail asap if stopped again.  It happened to me in front of my five year old...stayed there for 4 hours making bail.
     So how do we live when faced with this form of confrontation?  We do the best we can.  It just happened innocently enough at the supermarket, just enough to remind me what we are made of ...without grace...