Religion is defined as a specific set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of person, sects : the religion of Christianity, Buddhism etc.... Religion can contain elements of inspiration, morality, truth and great good. But religion if often used as a means of enslavement, control, manipulation and abuse. How do we navigate religious belief without being imprisoned by the downside of faith?
My personal story is one of being raised in a religious home. I attended Mass every week for 18 years (except for missing one Sunday due to a high fever at age 9). A Mass is a religious service conducted in the Roman Catholic tradition. There was much good in my religious upbringing. I was taught the immense value of the 10 commandments as a foundation of moral law and truth. I was taught much about Jesus Christ and the importance of doing good in response to God's goodness to us. Like all religions being Catholic had cultural and religious expectations of what it meant to follow God in this life. I was expected to take regular communion, attend mass, confess my sin to a religious priest, do penance for my wrong doing etc.... My family and I believed in God....but I can't say we really knew him nor did we have the peace, joy and assurance that Jesus spoke so much of.
Religion can be shaped, constructed and built upon the ideas and thoughts of men. It's a system of beliefs shaped over time and it can stray far from the original intent of the God it is meant to reveal. I am drawn to the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. There is so much raw boldness, life and confrontation of religion by Jesus. To hear him call the early disciples to "Come Follow Me" seems so startling and refreshing. What Jesus didn't say was just as important as what he did proclaim. He didn't delineate a specific form of prayer, diet, pilgrimage, dress code or other external behaviors as a way to draw nearer to God. The invitation of Jesus to enter his kingdom was a personal invitation to relationship. The great command was not a behavior.... it was a relationship of love with God... and with people. The entire moral law was clearly summarized by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew chapter 22 and vs 37, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and prophets depend on these two commandments."
Religious beliefs and traditions can breed pride, false assurance and separation from others. We can become so unloving when we practice our 'faith' to cover our brokenness and sin. Prisons are built to control and punish people. Religion devoid of the love of God and the revelation of the call to relationship puts us in a prison of control and bondage so far from what Jesus intended.
Jesus came to earth as a revelation of what God is like. He is described in the gospel of John as 'full of grace and truth'. There is so much freedom in knowing that you don't have to conform to man made religion to be in love with God...and to love others. Religion that is man made always focuses on external behaviors: Touch not, Taste not...... get in the box of our own making and close the lid....hide from the world around and don't dare engage people who are not like you.... so unlike Jesus himself. It's a prison that God never wanted us to live in.
Jesus came to 'give us life.... and life more abundant'. You can't really live an abundant life when you close yourself off in a prison of your own or others making that has nothing to do with a loving God. The power to be holy.... the power to be pure, the power to be in relationship with God is all a gift from him. You can't earn his love from some perverse rejection of your humanity. You were born for love. You were born for relationship. Your ability to please God, to love him...and to really love people is born of grace and the finished work of a loving Savior. "By grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift---not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his creation---created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them."
Religion promises much but delivers nothing except anguish, loss of freedom and broken relationships. God is drawing near to you today with a key in his right hand..... the key to freedom. It has a word etched on it in red, "Grace". When you take hold of that key you can walk free from the prison that is religion. It's time to be free from control, punishment and condemnation. It's all about love....it's all about relationship.
Jim
My personal story is one of being raised in a religious home. I attended Mass every week for 18 years (except for missing one Sunday due to a high fever at age 9). A Mass is a religious service conducted in the Roman Catholic tradition. There was much good in my religious upbringing. I was taught the immense value of the 10 commandments as a foundation of moral law and truth. I was taught much about Jesus Christ and the importance of doing good in response to God's goodness to us. Like all religions being Catholic had cultural and religious expectations of what it meant to follow God in this life. I was expected to take regular communion, attend mass, confess my sin to a religious priest, do penance for my wrong doing etc.... My family and I believed in God....but I can't say we really knew him nor did we have the peace, joy and assurance that Jesus spoke so much of.
Religion can be shaped, constructed and built upon the ideas and thoughts of men. It's a system of beliefs shaped over time and it can stray far from the original intent of the God it is meant to reveal. I am drawn to the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. There is so much raw boldness, life and confrontation of religion by Jesus. To hear him call the early disciples to "Come Follow Me" seems so startling and refreshing. What Jesus didn't say was just as important as what he did proclaim. He didn't delineate a specific form of prayer, diet, pilgrimage, dress code or other external behaviors as a way to draw nearer to God. The invitation of Jesus to enter his kingdom was a personal invitation to relationship. The great command was not a behavior.... it was a relationship of love with God... and with people. The entire moral law was clearly summarized by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew chapter 22 and vs 37, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and prophets depend on these two commandments."
Religious beliefs and traditions can breed pride, false assurance and separation from others. We can become so unloving when we practice our 'faith' to cover our brokenness and sin. Prisons are built to control and punish people. Religion devoid of the love of God and the revelation of the call to relationship puts us in a prison of control and bondage so far from what Jesus intended.
Jesus came to earth as a revelation of what God is like. He is described in the gospel of John as 'full of grace and truth'. There is so much freedom in knowing that you don't have to conform to man made religion to be in love with God...and to love others. Religion that is man made always focuses on external behaviors: Touch not, Taste not...... get in the box of our own making and close the lid....hide from the world around and don't dare engage people who are not like you.... so unlike Jesus himself. It's a prison that God never wanted us to live in.
Jesus came to 'give us life.... and life more abundant'. You can't really live an abundant life when you close yourself off in a prison of your own or others making that has nothing to do with a loving God. The power to be holy.... the power to be pure, the power to be in relationship with God is all a gift from him. You can't earn his love from some perverse rejection of your humanity. You were born for love. You were born for relationship. Your ability to please God, to love him...and to really love people is born of grace and the finished work of a loving Savior. "By grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift---not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his creation---created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them."
Religion promises much but delivers nothing except anguish, loss of freedom and broken relationships. God is drawing near to you today with a key in his right hand..... the key to freedom. It has a word etched on it in red, "Grace". When you take hold of that key you can walk free from the prison that is religion. It's time to be free from control, punishment and condemnation. It's all about love....it's all about relationship.
Jim
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