“The attraction of legalism is that, despite all its complexity, it’s mindless. It requires little or no personal engagement. It’s sheer mechanics, simple arithmetic, no more difficult than cranking a hoist or measuring a length of board. You just follow orders. You match the parts to the diagram and apply pressure. It need draw nothing from your heart, your mind, your strength, your soul. Its like paint-by-numbers: it requires no artistry, no imagination, no discipline, just dumb, methodical obedience.”

from Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God; Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath (W. Publishing Group, 2006), page 108; emphasis added.

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“The Lord and no one else shall save me. I desire no other helper, and would not trust in an arm of flesh even if I could. I will cry to him evening, and morning, and noon, and I will cry to no one else, for he is All-sufficient.” -CH Spurgeon

I read that early this morning before I had my quiet time. It’s a little snippet from his devotional based on Psalm 55:16, “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.” Once again, Charles Haddon hit me right in the heart. He proclaims with such boldness and certainty that God alone will be his help and strength. I wish I could do the same. At the end of my last semester at the Grove and right before my third summer at camp, God kept pounding this very idea into my head – run…