Over 900 doors. Over 5000 people. Over 10,000 knocks. This was one of our ministries for the month- the Flats, an apartment complex across from the church. I met a lot of people this past month while doing door to door evangelism. I met rich and poor, black and white, friendly and angry, Christian and non, young and old, sick and well, stuffed and hungry, confused and confident. There were many people and many beliefs but I found one common trend.
Relationship verses religion.
Surprisingly (or maybe not) most of the Christians I met where confused on this subject. I got a lot of questions like: why should I fast or pray if everything has been done on the cross? What is the correct Sabbath day? Is secular music ok to listen to? What do I have to do to enter heaven? Why does God allow suffering in my life?
My answer was you don’t have do more just enjoy God more. Christianity is not about following rules and laws to get something in return. If that were the case then we wouldn’t need Jesus and the New Testament. Christianity is all relationship. This is actually what makes Christianity unique over all other religions. It is not based on YOU. It is not based on what you do. You can’t earn your way. You can only receive a gift. The gift is eternal life, life to the full now, and relationship with Jesus Christ.
Why does God ask us to pray and fast or why does God bring trials in our life? I will answer that with a simple analogy. What makes a relationship between married couple strong? Time, Love, and Sacrifice are three that come to mind right away. The more you invest the more you get out. The more you give up the more you get in return. God is concerned with your heart. He wants us to have an intimate relationship with him. Sometimes he is even willing to bring hardships our way to cause us to depended on him and teach us just how far his love runs.
This may be hard for some of you who have never experienced the Father’s love in a deep way. Maybe you think Christianity is just a boring crutch that people use to make themselves feel better. But I will speak from experience that Christianity is only not boring (it is actually craziest life you could live) it is about receiving life in abundance. You want an adventure? You want peace, joy, and happiness? Well it is yours for the taking. But remember it is not about you so the more you get out of the way the better off you will be.
