I could also see putting bricks on the sheep as heavy burdens weighing us down. When I first saw the picture, I too felt a bigger burden – like a HUGE pile of mangled branches on a tiny sheep whose legs were buckling beneath the weight. But let us look at this image through Jesus’ eyes, as the artist did. To him the load is not heavy. He can pick it up off our backs easily. And that is why he is filled with joy when he works in our lives to set us free. Legalism is a horrible affliction that constantly sidetracks us from our pure trust and rest in God. It keeps our eyes off of Christ. Legalism causes us to be self-absorbed while also focused on the wrongs of others. It causes us to weaken and sicken both emotionally and physically. Legalism destroys relationships. It can destroy the healthy spirit life of a family, a church, and other relationships. We may find ourselves constantly struggling with legalism in ourselves and others, trying to control this, trying to rearrange the branches (and bricks). But let us keep in mind that all along our Lord is using the circumstances, the dialogues, etc to help us see our load, and then turn to him. It is a life-long process. Our human efforts to fix it or eradicate it won’t help much, but praise God, he is doing that in his way and his timing. He lets us go to the end our our rope till we are sick of our futile self-efforts. And isn’t that the whole reason he came to die for us - to liberate us from ourselves??????? We may see and feel only the heavy pile of mangled branches, but Christ sees the person – his beloved redeemed child. Diane
