About this episode

Scotty Smith joins Dan Doriani to discuss the concept of horizontal legalism and its impact on personal and professional relationships.

Longtime pastor and author Scotty Smith — founding pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN, and author of the daily prayer blog Heavenward — joins Dan for a conversation that starts with grace and ends up somewhere more personal. They dig into what Dan calls "horizontal legalism": the subtle habit of keeping a mental ledger of the good we've done for others, and quietly expecting it to be repaid in favor, attention, or love. From there the conversation moves into what that looks like at work (bosses, firing, being "the boss God gave you") and at home (grandkids, marriage, aging out of a leadership role), before Scotty opens up about growing up as what he calls an "emotional orphan" and how that shaped the way he — and many high-performing leaders — chase approval without realizing it.

People in this episode

Host: Dan Doriani

Guest: Scotty Smith

Topics covered

• grace
• horizontal legalism
• approval
• leadership
• personal growth
• workplace dynamics

Keywords

• horizontal legalism
• grace
• approval
• leadership
• emotional orphan
• workplace
• personal growth

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Christ Community Church

Books & works: Heavenward

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