Habit/Tradition

I haven't taken time to look up the dictionary's definition of these two words (habit/tradition); I wanted to be a little 'Sandlinesque' in this article, so please forgive me. To me, the word habit brings to mind such descriptive words as personal or individual. Whereas tradition, to my way of thinking, carries a wider meaning, that being public and collective. A habit can be bad or good, and so it is with tradition. 

But even when one or both of these are found in a good context, they can be turned into the opposite. For example, Bible reading or prayer; when one thinks he or she cannot break the traditional or habitual mold they've always been accustomed to, then it becomes a weight in one's life. Strictly observing and adhering to the status-quo, you can be slowed to a stop. To put oneself under a law where no law is, is truly being a legalist! 

There's a way to tell when it is a man-made law or a legitimately scriptural one. David tells us God's commandments are "exceeding broad." He gives us elbow room, remembering we are but dust. On the other hand, man-made laws and rules are confining; there is no wiggle room to be found in them, for one's humanity is never considered. 

Interestingly, after God laid down His Law, the Decalogue, He followed it by the sacrificial offerings, providing for all who break it. There is no such provision when you break man's, or those we have self-imposed upon ourselves.