Most people like decisions to be clean, a “yes or no” answer works great, but when we have options we go nuts trying to figure out what to do. When we live in Liberty we must be careful that our decisions are built on love for others. Have you ever seen a compliant child, who is doing all the right things on the outside but then manifests rebellion, and you wonder what brought on that behavior? Luke 15:11-32 gives us the parable of the lost son, but in reality you have two lost sons in this parable. The first is the one we focus on, but the second (seen at the end of the chapter), is a child that is compliant. He serves his father, but is rebellious at heart. His Pharisaical obedience is manifested through his frustration that the father would love his brother, after he behaved differently than he did. We must be careful that the “rules” are not more important than people. Legalism leads to external conformity to rules, but no real heart for God. The danger of this type of mindset is that it leads us to a judgmental attitude, as we believe that people who do not “understand” the rules the way we do, are either carnal or unsaved. As a result of this assessment we distance ourselves from them, and do not allow them to “taint” our lives. Love demands that we understand that there are varying stages of growth and development, and According to 1 Samuel 16:7 “The Lord looks at the heart.” While rules are important and we all need boundries, it is essential that we do not view what we do as the key to our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is built upon the work of Jesus Christ through his death, burial and resurrection, not by the things we do. Our motive for living life as a follower of Jesus Christ, must be to give glory to the Lord in all that we say and do (1 Corinthians 10:31), and to love those that Jesus came to die for. As we live in liberty, may we learn that living a legalistic lifestyle, only creates bondage to us and those that we live in judgment over. Our Lives must be built on loving those whom God loves, and serving those whom God serves. Paul said it best in Galatians 5:13-14 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”