Avoiding Justification Stumbling Stones

Scripture: Take note! I, Paul, am telling you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law. Galatians 5:2-3

Observation: Paul continues to address the issue of legal compliance. He makes this statement very, very strongly, that if someone attempts to justify themselves through the law, then the salvation of Jesus is meaningless. He even draws a firm line in the sand ... if a gentile gets circumcised - which would be the act that marks someone as a Jewish convert - then they must now obey Judaism and thus are obligated to the entire law.

Application: As I learn the law more and more, and see great benefit in obedience to it, beyond the obvious moral law elements. There were practices instituted in the law that were designed to assist with someone's awareness of the Lord, and thus their faithfulness. One of these included the tassels on their robes, which in time evolved into prayer shawls. Modern versions include scripture to remind the wearer of the Lord's greatness, and there are versions for Christians with New Testament reminders of Jesus.

I have considered getting one of these! They seem like a great way to remind myself to pray ... to have a physical clue that would call my mind to the Lord from time to time, and to pray into my problems more proactively. There seems to me that nothing in that sentence - from the motivation to be closer to the Lord, to the desire to pray more - has any negative implication at all.

However, the prayer shawls are part of the law. The use of tassels to motivate Jewish practices is called out multiple times in the law. The primary modern use is explicitly for devout Jewish men, and the Christian versions - while generalized as 'Christian' - are seemingly marketed toward Messianic Jews. Jesus was known to wear a prayer shawl, and likely all the disciples did too, but Jesus and they were in fact Jewish by birth and education and culture.

So I am left with this question: If I used a prayer shawl, would that place me 'under the law'? Would I be forsaking my salvation because I was seeking justification through Jewish practices and ritual, and not by faith in Jesus?

That is not how I view my heart in this matter. I am not seeking Jewish law as a means to salvation. I am only seeking ways of improving my obedience to the Lord, through methods that he himself recommended. However, I would not want to head in a direction that may confuse such matters, for myself or for anyone else around me. I will give up this thought, and seek other means for improving my prayer life.

Prayer: Lord, may I find ways to be closer to you every day. I do seek to pray more, and to simply find myself praying to you in my every moment of joy, need, worry, stress, and happiness. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.