My God hears me. My God is not limited by location, by distance, by time. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He has the power to change the world. He is sovereign over all heaven and earth. Nothing happens without his knowing it.
It breaks my heart to see all the statues, temples and other elements used to worship false gods. They hold no power. They cannot change anything. They propel the lie that we must earn our salvation-or a better life.
After three months in religious countries, my spirit hurts. I just want to proclaim from the rooftops that freedom is HERE. God is here. God is love. We can do nothing to make God love us any less than he already does, or any more. We are all sinners, but we can all be in relationship with God if we accept Christ.
Religion seems tedious to me at this point. I want my family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, everyone, to know that Christianity is about the relationship, not the religion. I found a quote in Jesus Culture that explains it better than I could:
“Iunderstand that many times we do the right thing in our relationship with God simply because we know it’s the correct thing to do. It is absolutely necessary to pray, worship, spend time with God and read your Bible because it is the right thing to do. But doing the right thing is not the ultimate goal, and our relationship with God cannot be based solely on being “correct” out of discipline. God cares more about than our doing the right thing. The right thing is just that–the right thing. This is because it is connected to our ultimate purpose, which is loving Him and being loved by Him. God’s paramount goal for each of us is a heart awakened with love for Jesus that yields a life willing to sacrifice everything, and it can only happen through passion. Impassioned love is the fuel we were made to burn. Disciplines are like guardrails on the highway. They help to buffer us so that we remain on the road. But they will never really be substantial enough to keep our engine running.“–Banning Liebscher
Really, it all boils down to love. I see that lacking in the religions of the countries I’ve been in lately. It’s not about earning anything. It’s not about appeasing a god. It’s about love. It’s always been about love.
“This is not about what you’ve done, but what’s been done for you. This is not about where you’ve been, but where your brokenness brings you to. This is not about what you feel, but He felt to forgive you, and what He felt to make you love.” You Are More, Tenth Avenue North (PS-New album is awesome, check it out!)
