The Rigorous and the Redeemed: Saying "No!"

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James 4:7-10

At times, the legalist (or the rigorous) might say, in the midst of temptation, "No! No! No! I will not! I-will-not!" The one who is trained by God's grace and has recurrently seen the glory of the cross, might say, "No! No! No! Indeed, I have something far greater and someone far greater! Look! There He is! I cannot! I-can-not, because I am not that, I am His!

One is hell bent on his own ability and "mind control" (which are both lacking) and more times than not, falls on his own face. Sadly, there is little to no depth in the striving cry of the rigorous. The other is mindful of his inability, and there is great depth in his cry not because of who he is or what he says merely, but because of who He looks to.