So I’m sitting here in my kitchen and I honestly have no clue how to start this blog. I know that religion is a controversial subject but God has definitely placed this topic on my heart. I’m sure that some of you are reading this because the title made you reread it or put your glasses on and ask yourself “does that really say I’m not very fond of religion?” Well you read it correctly. I’m not here to tell you what is right and wrong– I’m just sharing my beliefs that are rooted in scripture and how God has completely transformed my view of religion into a view of an intimate relationship with him and I want everyone to know of the greatness that is received when you put down all the ‘rules’ that our society believes following Jesus is.
Just quickly close your eyes and imagine yourself driving down the road on your way to school, work, or whatever it is that you do on a daily basis. Picture the drive and all of the different things that you see along the way. Now take a second and think of all the different churches that you see: Methodist, Catholic, Baptist, Non-Denom {as I like to call it}, Mormon, Jewish, and countless others. I know that I pass at least 5 just on my way to Kroger. Have you ever taken a minute to step back and wonder if this is the way that God intended our relationship with him to be?
Over the past few years I have been taking the ‘religion’ that I have been taught my whole life and I am making it my own. I have realized that having a relationship with our Savior isn’t about what the world has so deceivingly taught us. God created man and man created religion. We are told to go to church every Sunday so that we can get a whole row of gold stars next to our name in Sunday school to showcase our perfect attendance, we memorize bible verses like John 3:16 and Jeremiah 29:11 , we pray before we eat {sometimes}, and we try not to cuss so that we won’t have to spend all of eternity in Hell. But do we REALLY know what all of this means and why we do what we do?
Throughout the Bible we are told all about the freedom that comes when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Galatians 5:1 says “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Jesus didn’t come so that we would still be chained to the ground because of our sins. The Son has set us FREE and we are free INDEED {John 8:36}. And that is like music to my little ears. We don’t have to do ANYTHING to earn the love of Jesus, he loves us anyways. He died for you, he died for the kid sitting next to you in class that is picking their nose, he died for that co-worker that you aren’t too fond of, and he loves all of you the same & desires a personal and intimate relationship with all of his children {spoiler: that means EVERYONE}.
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” {Galatians 1:6-7} What I personally take from this passage is that God sent his son Jesus and he washed away all of our sins with his blood on the cross. God has called us to live for him– he wants us to live our lives filled with his amazing grace that breaks all of our chains. In our world of self sufficiency, we believe that we have to DO something to earn salvation {perverting the gospel}, but when we leave our religion at the foot of the cross and begin a relationship we realize that Jesus says DONE– he already paid the price, there is nothing that we can say or do to prove ourselves worthy to the Lord {live in the grace of Christ}.
“Through Jesus, Paul learned that God was not an impersonal force to make people behave in certain prescribed ways, but a personal savior who set us free to live a free life.” I know that some of you are probably still freaking out and think that I’m terrible because I said that I’m not too keen on religion, but here is a chart to help further explain my beliefs {inspiration for this chart is from a sermon that I heard at Southbrook Christian Church this weekend}:
Religion
- do
- guilt
- personal achievement
- country club mentality
- should
- sin management
- perform
- enslaving
- heavy
- self sufficiency
Relationship
- done
- grace
- Christ’s achievement
- can
- soul refreshment
- transformed
- liberating
- light
- Christ’s sufficiency
My relationship with Christ is rooted in the fact that Christ has already done everything for me– he just desires to have a deep relationship with me. I know that I am a very broken, sinful, imperfect, and selfish teenage girl. I know that I am a sinner and that I am going to continue sinning for the rest of my life here on Earth because the reality is that sin has entered our world. I can never be perfect– but I still strive to be like Jesus in everything that I do. Yes I still try my best to still follow the ‘rules’- I dress modestly, try to keep my words pure, read my bible, pray, and many other things. But I’m doing these things because I want to grow in my RELATIONSHIP with Jesus. I can’t do anything to prove myself to him and that’s ok with me.
Today I just want to encourage you to put down all of the expectations of religion. Lay all of the requirements for salvation down to rest and pursue a relationship with the God of the universe. He knows that you’re going to screw up– so just run to him, don’t waste your precious time trying to make up for what you have done wrong. I’m not saying that you should go out and do whatever you want because God has already forgiven you, I’m saying do good because you love the Lord and you want to please him and you’re overflowing with his goodness.
Lets also take down all of the walls the world has placed in between people because they have been labeled with a different religion. We have been taught that we can’t associate with people who are a different religion or that those people are weird and their beliefs are wrong. Why can’t we be one large group of believers that is so intentionally pursuing a relationship with our sweet Jesus. Thats what I believe the church {not the building– I mean me, you, and everyone else} is supposed to be. I want to be a church that is pleasing to God not a church the conforms to the ways of the world. So I have one question, will you join me?
{“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained though the law, Christ died for nothing!” Galatians 2:20}
