Piety or Pietism?

Pietism is bad but piety is good. This article will be mostly about avoiding pietism which is also correlated with a legalistic spirit. But before we get in depth explaining everything we need to avoid, let me first explain how piety is good and should not be abandoned. This is an important point to make so that we avoid both extremes.

Piety is living a life devoted to God through reverence and godliness. It is living for the glory of God, performing certain Christian and biblical duties, and continually choosing Jesus over sin. It’s having an attitude of love and devotion to God that makes us unsatisfied with the current status quo of modern-day Christianity in which many Christians or so-called Christians are very lax and unmotivated to live holy lives. There are many Christians today who aren’t pious, living virtually just like the world, appearing no different than them, not shining the light of Jesus, and compromising their moral decisions in life because they think of themselves as more important than living for Jesus or are simply unaware of their sins and how that tarnishes the reputation of God. Piety is devotion to God above all things and the practice of that devotion. Typically, that devotion is outward in loving God through glorifying Him through our good deeds and shining the light of Jesus and loving people. But it is also an inward devotion to God in renouncing sinful choices and desires, mortifying them, and putting off the sinful deeds of the body since we are temples of the Holy Spirit and have been bought with a price. Our bodies are not our own and thus we should live for Jesus and seek to glorify God in everything we do, even in the mundane things in life like eating and drinking (1 Cor 10:31).

On the other hand, pietism is an excessive culture of the inward focus of piety and Christian disciplines to grow in sanctification. It is an emphasis on self rather than an emphasis on Christ. Because it is an emphasis on self, it becomes self-idolatry. This pursuit of killing sin in your life becomes this all-consuming endeavor, goal, and focus of your life. It replaces a Christ-focus and worship with a self-focus. Pietism is essentially just man-made religion trying to perfect obedience by the works and power of the flesh. It’s navel gazing, self-abasement, and false humility. It’s this identity of “woe is me, I’m such a terrible sinner, I am such a wretched person, I am so vile and sinful.” It’s the attitude you can consistently find in the writings of the Puritans. It turns into this worm-theology about yourself where the concept you have of yourself is worthlessness. It’s self-effort rather than faith empowered and Spirit infused obedience. Such an excess focus on sin, worthlessness, and the struggle to overcome, is excessive self-introspection. It’s looking for sin under every rock. It’s finding things that aren’t even there just to be more pious. It’s neuroticism. It’s not healthy and its practice is self-defeating. The more concentration you put into self-introspection and the more effort you put into so-called godly disciplines, the farther away from true transformation you become. It’s shame producing rather than love of God outpouring into our hearts. It’s a place of being motivated by fear rather than being motivated by love. It operates from a place of striving rather than a place of rest in Christ. Piety becomes a more important pursuit than loving our neighbor, advancing the kingdom, and living in fellowship with other believers. Instead of the gospel as an objective truth and reality outside of ourselves to have faith in, we place our faith in the waxing and waning of our own thoughts and feelings to obtain assurance of salvation. There could not be a more unsteady foundation than that. Practicing such things is essentially just shooting yourself in the foot. Rather than Christ being your identity, piety becomes your identity. Rather than focusing on the cross and your blessings in Christ, you focus on your performance and you’re always checking your spiritual temperature by looking inward. Continually pursuing an increased knowledge of sin through self-introspection so that you can pursue opposite behaviors and increase many Christian disciplines is viewed as the means to walk in godliness. That’s pietism. It’s self-effort—human initiated and contrived works.

You will not mortify the flesh with such methods. I’ve tried it for a long time and I’m telling you it doesn’t work. Unfortunately, I got sucked up into that black hole of a mess but thankfully I didn’t remain there. Even early on in my Christian life when I had just recently entered into a church with such pietism culture, the Holy Spirit was indicating within me that something was wrong about it. I read some of the Puritans and I had a bad feeling about them. I was even told by one of the pastors that he thought otherwise and didn’t see the Puritans as excessively introspective or that this was a problem in any way. At the time, I listened to him but now, I have reverted back to my previous beliefs about it. I should have listened and followed my convictions at the time despite what anyone said. I went to accountability groups and it was so sin-focused rather than Christ-focused. Because of it, I entered into this performance mindset. Every week it was like, “did you do this sin?” “did you do better in this or that area?” And every week you would have to come up with some sin confession for the week. Otherwise, someone would accuse you of being too prideful and ignorant of your own sins. The measure for godliness then became: the more sins you confess or the more contrite you are about them, the more mature you are as a Christian. But that is completely twisted. It becomes this endless cycle of performance and a life focused on piety. Now, there’s a way to have accountability partners without the atmosphere getting like this but that’s not the topic for today. Anyway, I brought up some of my concerns for the leaders of the group in the day and if I remember correctly, my concerns were simply brushed off. I had brought up the point that Paul said that he continues “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13). Paul did not think of his past sins or achievements in running the race of faith because those things would be a distraction. A runner who is constantly looking behind him or gazing at his navel is not going to do very well in the race. He’s going to trip up and fall and his speed will be reduced because he is distracted and not focusing ahead. We need to always keep our eyes on Jesus, even as that old Hymn goes, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

The Bible doesn’t tell us to remember our sins all the time and always be thinking about them. Hebrews 3:13 says to encourage one another daily so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; but you can encourage people in the gospel, in the Word, and in the truth, without ever getting into sin specifics. And then Revelation 2:5 says to “remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first,” but to remember something for the specific purpose for repenting is one thing, while deep introspection is quite another. The church of Ephesus is given the exhortation to remember from where they had left their first love. That is, they needed to recall to their minds at what point they veered off course and what the reason was for why their love was waning and cold. Accessing one’s memory through remembrance is very different from the regular practice of self-introspection which goes beyond recall and into excess evaluating, pondering, questioning, and contriving.

Through self-introspection, pietists discover so much sin about themselves that they overwhelm themselves and begin to think how infinitely sinful they are and they like to exaggerate the knowledge they have of their sinfulness by saying things like, “the more mature you become, the more deeply aware of your sin you become,” and “I’m the worst of all sinners. I’m the chief of all sinners!” They do this, thinking they are rightfully imitating Paul. But there is a reason Paul called himself the foremost or chief of all sinners (1 Tim 1:15-16). It’s because before his conversion, he violently persecuted the church, having many Christians imprisoned and killed for their belief in Jesus (Acts 22:4; 1 Cor 15:9). Have you done such things? Have you martyred other Christians? No? Then stop calling yourself the chief of sinners. Stop competing with Paul for being the first-place sinner because you lost. This isn’t a competition here of who is more sinful or unworthy, so we need to stop thinking and acting that way. You are not more pious for exalting your sinfulness. Your self-condemnation, self-loathing, and derogatory statements do not give God praise and glory, so stop it. That’s not even what Paul was doing. He wasn’t loathing or condemning himself. He was making an accurate assessment about himself based off all the information available at the time of what he used to do to the church. He wasn't even speaking of his present sin; he was speaking of his past sin. Even if he was sinning in this manner, we should never imitate Bible characters who sin! To further prove my point, here is what Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones had to say about Paul and 1 Timothy 1:16

To me, this is one of the greatest discoveries in the Christian life. I shall never forget the release that realizing this for the first time brought to me: You and I must never look at our past lives; we must never look at any sin in our past life in such a way, except it should lead us to praise God and to magnify His grace as Paul did. I challenge you with that. If you look at your past or anything in your past and are depressed by it, you’re failing miserably as a Christian. That does not mean that I say you should look at your past and say nothing. No. No. You must do it as Paul did: “I was a blasphemer and persecutor and injurious.” But does he stop at that? Does he sit in his corner and say, “I’m unworthy to be a preacher of the gospel”? No. He says the exact opposite, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who enabled me for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” When Paul looks at that past, he doesn’t sit in a corner and say, “I’m unfit to preach. I’m unworthy to be a Christian. Alas, I lack. I’m such a vile man. I’ve done such terrible things.” Not at all. What it does to Paul is that it makes him praise God. He magnifies the grace, “and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” That’s the way to look at your past. So if you look at your past and are just depressed, it means you’re listening to the devil. But if you look at that past and say, “yes, unfortunate, it was true. I was blinded by the god of this world. I did it in ignorance and unbelief. But thank God his grace was more than abundant and abounding. It was more than sufficient. And His love and mercy came upon me in such a way that it’s all forgiven and I’m a new man.” Then, it’s alright. That’s the way I say to look at the past and if we don’t do that, I’m almost tempted to say we deserve to be miserable. Why believe the devil instead of believing God? Rise up out of it, my friend and realize the truth about yourself as in Christ and one with Him, and that all the past, whatever it may be, has gone and has been blotted out once and forever. Let us remember that it is sin to doubt God’s Word. It is sin to allow the past which God has dealt with to rob us of our joy and usefulness in the present and in the future.
(Spiritual Depression – Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones: 4:51-7:36)

Having said these things, let’s look at the topic of self-introspection and see what the Bible has to say about it. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 it says, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” Many people often use this as a litmus test to determine whether someone is saved or not. They use this verse and preach this verse and tell people that they need to make sure they’re saved, “examine yourself!” They tell you that you need to question your salvation whereas Ephesians 6:17 says to put on the assurance of salvation as a helmet. Yet they apply this verse to everyone and say that we should all be self-introspective examining if we are really saved or not. But that is not what Paul is saying. He’s not instructing this to be a common habitual and normal practice of the church. What’s going on here is that the Corinthians were questioning Paul’s Apostleship. They didn’t want to listen to what he had to say or follow his authority. So, Paul reminds them that the gospel they received for their salvation was the gospel message that came from Paul; and so the argument is that if they were rejecting the message from Paul, then they were in essence, rejecting their own beliefs since those beliefs previously came to them from Paul. It is for that reason that Paul is saying that the Corinthians need to question themselves to see if they are in the faith. He was pointing out the weakness and flaws in their own thinking to defend the legitimacy of his Apostleship and message. Their questioning of Paul turns right back on them and is self-defeating. If they disavowed Paul, then they disavowed themselves but if they approved of Christ among them and in them, then this would approve of Paul’s apostleship. Paul wasn’t even legitimately questioning their salvation because he was confident that they were saved. Therefore, Paul was not speaking literally here. He is not saying these things as a broad exhortation for all churches and people everywhere to question their salvation, feel their spiritual thermometer, and do a fruit inspection. He was using a linguistic device and argument to win the argument. I don’t know if I have the right word for it, but he was being sort of cheeky and sarcastic to them. For this reason, we need to stop using this Bible verse as a litmus test for people we think might not be saved because that’s not the intention Paul had for it. The book of 1 John is also sometimes used and misappropriated by preachers as a litmus test for salvation but that wasn’t the intention of the writer for that book being written either.

Another verse that might be used to defend self-introspection is 2 Peter 1:10 which says, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you…” If we read within the context of this verse, there is a list of godly qualities that Peter gives his reader to practice and increase in and then he says, “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins” (v. 8-9). The solution that Peter gives to hypothetical questionable believers is to remind them of their faith in Jesus through the cross that purified them from their sins. The solution is to go back to faith, to go back to the gospel because if someone really isn’t saved, then they need faith in the gospel, not to be beaten and battered with the fact that they should be doing more for God. Because, how can they if the Spirit of Christ does not dwell within them? They won’t be able to. The Holy Spirit is essential for good works. It is for this reason that those who are believers will be encouraged that they have the qualities and are increasing in the qualities that Peter just mentioned and those qualities confirm the fact that they are saved, bolstering their assurance of salvation because they have evidence that the Spirit of Christ is in them. Peter also does not just say that those who lack such qualities are “blind” but he also adds the possibility that they could be “short-sighted,” meaning, they could genuinely be saved but have lost focus from Christ. Peter never makes any blanket statement saying, “if you do X, Y, or Z, then you’re not saved.” That would certainly not be very pastoral. Peter ultimately points them to the gospel, not works; he does not urge them to do an introspective fruit test! Now, he does mention different fruits of being saved but those things would be objectively obvious to anyone. It’s not something you need to take some deep contemplative time and thought to try and figure out if you’re saved or not. The qualities Peter lists in 2 Peter 1 instruct the believers to pursue piety but this isn’t pietism.

In 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 Paul says:

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.

Elsewhere, Paul said, “I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day” (Acts 23:1). In 1 Corinthians, he said, “I am conscious of nothing against myself.” But if someone were to say that in our day to a pietist, they would rebuff him and say, “But don’t you know, Paul, that we sin every single second of the day!? Don’t you know that the more mature we become as believers, the more of our sin we continually recognize? Don’t you know that the heart is desperately wicked?” But Paul’s response was basically, “I don’t examine my motives or dig deep inside my subconscious mind to find evil. I live before God with a perfectly good conscience, and I am not conscious of anything against myself. I have no consciousness of sin or evil motives in the present moment (cf. Heb 10:2). No human can judge my heart because they don’t know my heart. I am not even aware of all that is in my heart, so it is the Lord who examines me. I entrust myself to Him. I’m leaving it in God’s hands; and we should all patiently wait for God’s examination where He will bring everything to the surface one day and every motive and deed will be exposed in the light. All that is dark now will be uncovered then.” We can be sure of this, Paul was no pietist.

1 Timothy 4:7 might be used to defend pietism. Paul says to Timothy, “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” Paul also says of himself, “but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” What does all this mean? What is this “discipline” that Paul speaks of? In the second verse, Paul is not saying that he practices asceticism, for that would contradict what he has said against that elsewhere. Practicing godliness is a choice and that means discipline; that means concentrated, intentional effort even when we don’t feel like it, even when it isn’t easy, we must choose obedience. Even when we’re tired, we must persevere. Even when the world comes against us, we must not lose hope but continue pressing on and not give up. We must also maintain a sober mind and not get distracted by the things of this world, remembering that we are just pilgrims passing through, soldiers dedicated to our Lord. We should not distract ourselves in the lusts of this world and passing pleasures. We need to keep our spiritual eyes focused on why we’re here and not get entangled in the affairs of everyday life (2 Tim 2:4). That requires spiritual discipline.

In the direct context, the discipline of 1 Timothy 4:7 is in relation to being “constantly nourished on the word of the faith and of the sound doctrine” and “to have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women.” This would mean disciplining oneself to not get distracted by all the details and knowledge of worldly fables but to pursue the knowledge of God through faith. This would require us to choose to spend our time wisely, making decisive time for the Lord. Discipline is about the continuous constant choosing of God over other things. It would be a stretch to emphasize discipline in a way that means pursuing every act of piety and service to God that one can muster up to the point of overwhelming exhaustion. Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Mt 11:30), while John says that God’s commands are not burdensome (1 Jn 5:3). Spiritual discipline is not about overwhelming ourselves with pious acts—it’s about continually choosing God and staying the course for the purpose of godliness; and true spiritual discipline is never divorced from faith. If whatever definition we have of spiritual discipline makes life overwhelming for us, then either our definition of discipline is wrong, our practice is wrong, or something else is wrong.

There are people who have written books based upon these verses on God’s discipline and have suggested many different acts of “Christian disciplines” to do. Some of these things might be: Bible reading, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, fasting, journaling, or learning, etc. Now, these things might be helpful to do and may aid one’s faith and devotion to God but they are by no means works done to earn God’s favor. They can be for our benefit and may be means of grace to enliven our faith but in and of themselves, they will not bring someone to mortify their fleshly desires. That is only done through faith in the truth of God, who He is, His promises, and what He has done for us. You can have all the discipline in the world but it will not give you true victory over sin apart from faith. Piety is good and helpful but when it turns into pietism, we’ve gone overboard and lost our focus. There is a proper place for self-introspection and discipline but going too far is man-made religion, false humility, and works of the flesh. We must recognize that faith fuels obedience and we should work from there as our starting point so that we produce real fruit rather than fake fruit. That’s how real spiritual maturity is attained.

We must remember that the kingdom of Jesus is an upside-down kingdom. What comes to us intuitively to our natural minds is not the way to climb up the ladder. Some of us may do well to take a break and cease all our strivings in so-called spiritual disciplines and acts of piety so that we can re-learn how to live and walk by faith through the Spirit. But for some of us, pride may be what is holding us back, the pride of appearance, feeling religious, and contributing our works to God and the church; they have become our identity, rather than Christ alone being our identity. We must also recognize that strivings can produce anxiety and anxiety produces more sin. Come to Jesus in faith and learn to rest in Him again. Know that Jesus wants your heart more than He wants your hands.

David says in Psalm 19:12-13 “Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion” (CSB). And in Psalm 139:23-24 he says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (NLT). From these two passages, we can see that David was not overly analytical, trying in his own effort to figure out the problem and what sins were lurking here or there in his heart. He didn’t consume his time in deep introspection thinking about his motives and other such things. Rather, he prayed to God and then left it in God’s hands, relying on the Holy Spirit to reveal to him any relevant information that he needed to know. Jesus said that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgement, and to lead us into the truth (Jn 16:8, 13). Yet somehow, many people have gotten hold of the idea that they’re going to be their own Holy Spirit and so they take up the Spirit’s duty and role by figuring things out for themselves to convict themselves of sin and righteousness in their pursuit of piety or they try to be someone else’s Holy Spirit. But they have it backwards and their methods are anti-biblical. And so, they look for sin under every rock and sometimes they find things that aren’t even there but they decide to label it as sin anyway. It may make themselves feel more pious to never complain about the weather but mentioning how hot or cold it is outside in and of itself is not sin. It’s the posture of the heart that matters, not the action itself. Then they come up with other laws and regulations for themselves to not do this or not do that but if these things were not birthed in the Spirit, it is fake fruit and works of the flesh. We must be careful and guard ourselves here, for it is the legalistic spirit that is birthed from pietism. We need to trust the Spirit to reveal to us our sin in His way and His timing, and be careful not to place a burden on someone else’s back that the Spirit only meant for us to carry. “Mature” believers can do much harm to new Christians by pointing their finger where it doesn’t belong, thinking that it’s their duty to point out every blind spot and shortcoming. But Jesus didn’t even do that with His disciples. Some of us need to keep in step with the Spirit rather than a few steps ahead of the Spirit.

Paul said in Philippians 3:15 “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.” Paul was fully confident in the Spirit’s work and ability to reveal necessary information about oneself to others.

It may also be helpful for some of us to simplify things and simplify our piety by walking by the fruits of the Spirit, because against such things there is no law (Gal 5:23). We could simplify it even further and make things less complicated as Jesus did when He said that the whole law is summed up in loving God and loving neighbor (Mt 22:36-40).

Let us remember, the Spirit is self-control (Gal 5:23). That means with the Holy Spirit, we have a choice. We don’t have to be overcome by sin (1 Cor 10:13). This is much different than asceticism which is a form of harsh disciplines of the body like injuring the body and depriving the body of food, sleep, and pleasures in life. Ascetic practices as a means to kill sin are condemned in the Bible (Col 2:16-23). It’s called asceticism in CSB, self-abasement in NASB, false humility in NKJV, and pious self-denial in NLT (v. 18). Colossians 2:20-23 says:

If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence. (CSB)

Paul is saying here that there are certain man-made ideas, rules, and steps to follow to be more holy, to suppress or mortify the sinful desires of the flesh but these rules and regulations have no actual power to overcome sin. Those things might appear to work at times but they have no staying power. The reason is because sin is not merely an external thing. It’s a heart issue that needs to be dealt with. Our culture is filled with self-help books, even among Christian authors, self-help books abound. There’s so much content out there of “do this method,” “do that method,” or “here’s something else you can try.” But many of those things are an endless graveyard that lead nowhere because here’s the truth: the power does not lie in yourself and in your own power to overcome. All power and victory are in and through Jesus.

Pietism is a hyperfocus on the inner life and your feelings and your good works or lack thereof. It’s an attitude and approach to life where you’re constantly questioning if you’re doing enough, if your motives are right, if your intentions are pure, are your feelings sufficient or appropriate for the situation, am I sinning in a way that I’m not aware of? And did I have enough contrition over my sin? Was my repentance really repentant? Did I feel enough guilt? Was I prideful when I said this? Was I prideful when I did that? You’re essentially over-analyzing everything and focusing on yourself and measuring how pleasing you are to God based on every little detail of your life. When I used to live somewhat like that, it was quite depressing and actually led me into sinning more rather than sinning less. You cannot kill off sin with fear, shame, anxiety, and self-effort. But that is the exact atmosphere that pietism creates. It produces death in your spirit rather than life. It’s like what Paul says in Romans 7 that the law produces death. You cannot advance in the Christian life by simply following more commandments and focusing on the law because the sinful desires of the flesh will take those commandments and produce more sin and death. I was doing spiritually well before I entered into the pietistic culture but once I entered into it and started practicing what everyone else was practicing, the struggle with sin was more intense, more frequent, and it killed my joy and love for God. It produced death in me. It may have made me more humble, but it certainly did not make me more effective for God or draw me closer to God.

Paul said to the Galatians, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal 3:2-3). The argument is this: If when we were saved (our justification) was by faith then our Christian growth (our sanctification) should also be by faith. Focusing on our justification in Christ actually leads us further in our sanctification because we are sanctified through continual faith when we choose to have and pursue faith every single day. The Christian life is faith all the way through. It’s not as though the gospel message is only relevant for getting people saved and then they don’t need to hear it anymore. We need the gospel all the time because the gospel enlivens and strengthens faith. Living a life of faith is needed if we are to live holy lives before God. Abraham lived by faith and his obedience to God came out of his faith and so we need to do it the same way. Perfecting obedience by the works of the flesh is pietism and operating by a legalistic spirit. It’s not faith. God does not want artificial fruit. He wants real fruit coming out of faith and the Spirit. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Therefore, works of the flesh do not please God because they are not of faith.

External rules and guidelines can only partially change our external behavior but they cannot regulate the heart. They cannot change and transform the heart. You could follow a list of rules all your life without the heart changing. The reason we need the heart to change is because as Jesus said, it is from the heart that evil comes: “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man” (Mt 15:18-20). If the heart is not changed, then it’s simply behavior modification, not transformation. But if the heart is truly changed, you won’t desire to do evil anymore and you won’t have the lusts and cravings for it anymore. The heart will be cleansed from those things (Gal 5:24; Heb 10:22). The core of sanctification is not godly disciplines—it’s heart transformation through faith, hope, and love through Jesus Christ. Do not believe any spiritual leader who tells you otherwise. Their so-called “maturity” and many years of experience of living the Christian life and “godly disciplines” does not mean that they necessarily know what they’re talking about or that they are free from sin; and their interpretation or preaching of Romans 7 is also probably wrong.

So, what is the cure for pietism? Stop being so religious. Stop striving so hard. Stop being so serious and somber. Lighten up. Stop trying to think of all your own solutions to problems and start living by faith, truth, love, and the Spirit and keep your eyes on Jesus. Christ died to set us free from sin … fear … shame … and religion … through the truth and frequency of His love. Therefore, we must abide in His love to be free and have rest. It is only from this place of love that true piety can grow and thrive.

Check out this YouTube playlist: Piety or Pietism?

Also, check out Dan Mohler on YouTube