The art of balance.
I remember being the little brother who had to ride around with training wheels. I hated training wheels. They dragged with a childish, plastic-like sound. They looked dumb. They slowed you down. They did not work when you went off the pavement. In dirt or grass, they always seemed to leave your back tire over a hole so that your wheel would just spin and spin. Ugh. I am glad I do not have to use training wheels anymore.
Some people have a faith in God with training wheels attached. Do you realize the law of Moses was training wheels. Legalist, rule-based living is all about training wheels.
What is better than training wheels? Getting a sense of balance! Once you balance, you don’t need outside controllers to keep you from going over.
I explain more about that in this video: What is Legalism?.
So, what is the “balance”? If rule-based living is the training wheels, when is a person free from that? When they get the balance called love. Once you love God and others you will not do things that damage you or your fellow human.
The balance a child of God must have is this one love-born desire: to glorify God in everything. Yes, everything. You see, if I have a list of rules that you must follow to satisfy me, you can do whatever you like when I am not looking. However, if you what to glorify God in everything, even when no one is looking, you will make moral choices.
Do you love God or are you just trying to please people? Do you love others or do you just want a list of rules to make you feel worthwhile?
You see, a rule-based person will get into trouble once they go into new territory. For example, I can follow the rule not to watch TV because of the bad programming on there. However, that rule will not keep me from the filth on the internet. I have to have a desire in my heart to please God first. Then I will stay away from the pitfalls and keep my moral balance in any terrain, no matter what new technology or ways of sinning come along.