There is a battle going on within the world of Christianity today. The following is strictly my thoughts of what I have observed within myself, my friends, and society. There is a competition going on for you, and it is one of the most important competitions that will ever take place for you. There is a battle you need to be aware of currently, and it is the battle between religion and relationship.
I want to be very careful and clear to explain this how it is in my head. I love religions and find them very interesting, but hear me when I say this, I am not committed to a religion. I am not committed to following the rules and guidelines set by man about God. In the same way when I get married, I will not be committed to the marriage, I will be committed to my wife. To a person. Do I think religion is important? Yes! I am also sold that the best religions in the world are, however, the ones that follow the teaching of Jesus. The teachings that say stuff like, do not point out a spec of dust in that person’s eye when there is a plank in yours. The ones that are not judging, but are not compromising either. The teachings of Jesus that say love each other. The same kind of love that has to rebuke someone is the same kind of love that accepts them when they fall and helps to get them back on track. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Religion, is a thing though. It is not a person. I fear that to be “religious”, and I use that word loosely, is to be committed to following something that you may or may not actually believe is real. If you are committed to a certain religion, you may need to re-evaluate where you are at with Jesus. Remember He came here to be a light in a dark world filled with religious leaders. Remember also that religious leaders do not always get it right i.e. the crucifixion.
I am committed to a relationship. I am committed to a relationship with a person. A relationship makes it real. A relationship says I am not serving someTHING called “God”; I am serving someONE called “God”. Relationship is the portion of my world that wants me to draw near to God. It is what draws me to grow closer to him personally. It is what leads me beside the still waters, it is what restores my soul. It is what gets me through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, it is what helps me fear no evil. It is REAL. I am no longer committed to someTHING (religion), I am committed to someONE (relationship).
This is the battle out there for us. Again I want to be very clear with my love for religion, as humans it regulates us. But I also want people to know there is a battle going on. Eventually we are going to have to all come to grips with an idea, and that idea is simply this: to you, in your world, not looking around and not worrying about your friends, are you serving a God that is powerful? Or are you serving a God that is possible? IF you are serving a God that is possible, you need to understand that you hold a mindset that is extremely dangerous. If God is only possible, as in, he could be all-powerful but he is more or less unreachable, you may have missed the fact that God is real.
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Food for Thought: Are you in a religion with God? Or are you in a Relationship with God?
Post Script: I want to spend my entire life working in a religious institution via Ministry, but I will never stop preaching that the relationship is more important than the religion title.
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