The Obstacle of Legalism from Breaking Free by Beth Moore

Just drinking my coffee this morning reviewing my notes from a Bible study I started taking at my church and thought it was interesting and I would share it with you. I am currently reading "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore and it has really opened my eyes to a lot of things that are in my life that are really hindering me from truly knowing God and His Word.

This passage was from Matthew 12 and the daily devotional was titled "The Obstacle of Legalism". Interesting huh?

¹ At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”  ³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. ⁵ Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[a] you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
 ⁹ Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰ and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
 ¹¹ He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
 ¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Beth Moore goes on to talk about how Legalism can cause a real division between God and His children and even cause division between his followers.
Thinking about the Pharisees and their man made "rules and regulations", they thought they were correct but their regulations were replacing their relationship with God.

Isaiah 29:13
¹³ The Lord says:    “These people come near to me with their mouth
   and honor me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
   is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

 photo credit to: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=901