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for me to roll down my window.
    But strangely, the officer has a friendly smile on his face this time. Let’s say he approaches my window with a gleam in his eye and says, “Mr. Farley, I just wanted to say thank you for driving at a safe speed. You’re a good man. The state of Virginia appreciates your efforts to keep our highways safe. This morning, I want to award you the Virginia Drivers Excellence Award. This award includes a certificate redeemable for merchandise at any Division of Motor Vehicles office. Congratulations.” Then he hands me the certificate and says, “You have a great day!”
    Legalism will never
produce love.
    Wow! I would be stunned, wouldn’t you? Of course you would, because episodes like this don’t find their way into our lives very often. In fact, I doubt if anything like this has ever happened. I’ve never heard of a police officer pulling someone over in order to compliment them on their good driving.
    For some reason, the law only gives us its attention when we are in the wrong.
    Similarly, the law of Moses only points out where we’ve fallen short. Looking for love and encouragement? You’ll never find them in the law. This is why the strictest legalist you know canfabricate an appearance of morality. But legalism will never produce love. Living under a law mentality is like being a slave to a most demanding taskmaster. There’s always more to do. And you’ll never do enough to please him. James teaches, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10, italics added).
P ASS OR F AIL
    Keeping 1 percent or 99 percent of the law is one and the same. Imagine a person who’s able to abide by most of the law. Let’s say they only struggle occasionally with one tiny regulation. But whether we obey none of the law or most of the law, we’re still cursed under it. As the apostle Paul states, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law’” (Galatians 3:10, italics added).
    How can Paul be so extreme in his view? We know that Paul (formerly Saul) was a man who tried to obey every aspect of the law. Speaking of himself to the Philippians, he even writes, “…as for righteousness based on the law, [I was found] faultless” (Philippians 3:6).
    Those around Paul may have thought he was blameless. But Paul knew better. He was acquainted with the failure that all of us find when we try to obey the law. Speaking of his failure, Paul writes:
I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting.
    R OMANS 7:7-8
    Law is an
all-or-nothing
proposition.
    Law is an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you comply with every ounce of the law, or you’re cursed. There’s no other option. Do we have a right to pick and choose from the law? Or have we been awarded the luxury of mixing a portion of the law with Christ? Paul warns that if we add even a pinch of law to our life in Christ, he’ll be of no value to us:
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
    G ALATIANS 5:2-3, italics added
    It’s preposterous for Christians to adopt portions of the law of Moses as our guide for living. We’re presuming that God grades on a curve. But the law is completely incompatible with our attempt to “do our best.” Law is a pass-or-fail system.
    And one strike means you’re out.

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    I N THE U NITED S TATES, SOME C HRISTIANS FIGHT FOR THE T EN Commandments to be posted on our public buildings. We say that we don’t want our society to