The vast majority of my life I spent as what some call a “non-believer”. While I did believe in a God, in a higher power, I wasn’t in touch with Him, I didn’t know Him or His word. Basically if someone asked me, “do you believe in God?” my answer would have been “yes.”, and if they asked me my religious beliefs, I would say “a Jew.” But that was where the discussion would end. I had no idea what being a Jew meant, I had no idea what being a follower or disciple of the Lord meant, and for the longest time I didn’t really care.
Being a so called “non-believer” you look at religion from the outside and say those people are weird, they are all over Jesus, they don’t curse, they don’t rebel, they don’t party, they’re boring and extremely judgmental. And unfortunately there are plenty of religious folk out there that are indeed very judgmental, critical and boring, thus giving faith a bad name.
But I’ve come to realize along my own spiritual journey, that being in a relationship with God is anything but boring. Unfortunately for the longest time, religion gave me a bad taste in my mouth, I think just like most people. It’s what author Bob Goff refers to as his Crisco analogy.
In his book Love Does, Goff tells the story how he spread Crisco on his bagel thinking it was low-fat cream cheese, when it tasted bad he thought adding more might better the flavor. But to his surprise it didn’t, it just made it all the more worse, and as a result he swore off low-fat cream cheese forever. The point of his story is that so many people swear off religion because they’ve tasted the wrong thing. They see what most of the world and the media tends to portray religion as, a stuffy, strict, no-fun-having, super judgmental society. But what I’ve come to notice first hand with myself is, a real relationship with God, a real fellowship with Jesus leads to the polar opposite.
Pursuing a deep relationship with God has brought me more happiness than I’ve ever experienced, it’s given my life more purpose and value than I ever thought possible, and above all it fills me with such freedom, which I think most people don’t expect. Contrary to what mainstream society tends to portray, a strong relationship with God is the most liberating thing I have ever experienced. It’s given me more hope, more life, more love, it’s actually made me far less judgmental than I ever used to be, it’s given me a passion and excitement for life, and it’s empowered me to live a full life.
I think the important thing I’ve realized is that the reality I’m living in now is one built on relationship, not religion. It’s about discipleship, not evangelism. It’s about pursing a deep and personal experience with God, one built on His Words, and the life He instructs us to live, not one built on the laws of the church. These things may seem very similar, I’m not exactly sure how others will read into them, but let me assure you they are completely different.
An identity based on religion, can be restricting, it can be judgmental, and exclusionary. But an identity based on a real relationship with Jesus and His word is liberating, freeing and intoxicating. For the longest time I pushed intimacy with God away because I had tasted the wrong thing. But now, I am drunk on Jesus and life has truly never been more fun!
With so much Love,
Samara
xoxox
P.S. I am only 767 squats ($767) away from my deadline. I’ve got one week to reach this goal, $2, $5, $10 donations, they all add up! Please prayerfully consider helping support me on this mission, and thank you so very much to all of you who have followed and supported me thus far, it means the whole world! God Bless!
