Religion < Relationship

I saw a quote the other day on Facebook that said, "Growing closer to Jesus isn't a result of trying harder, it's a result of surrendering more." I reposted it and said, "Religion < Relationship. Religion brings stress; relationship brings peace. I didn't think much about it, but later on I thought to myself, "Some people are probably thinking what is she talking about? Of course Christianity is a religion. She is just one of those crazy Jesus people." That is how I got the inspiration for this post. What if I were to tell you that Jesus Himself HATED religion? Lets just look at Matthew 15: 1-20.. It is a little lengthy but it will all tie together after you read this passage of Scripture:

"Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses their father is to be put to death.' But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is 'devoted to God,' they are not to 'honor their father or mother' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, their teachings are merely human rules." Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them." Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" He (Jesus) replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind. both will fall into a pit."  Peter said, "Explain the parable to us." "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them, for out of the mouth come evil thoughts-- murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them."

Wow. I feel like we as believers, even as just people in general, are so much like the Pharisees in that we judge others, while we ourselves our yet sinners. (Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.") 

I have a question. What do you think of when you hear the word "religion"? When you ask a lot of people, one of them being myself, what they think, they said the words "tradition" or "rules." If you look back up to the passage, you'll see that I highlighted both of those words. Both of those words came straight out of Jesus' mouths and both times He said them, He was saying that these words being spoken by the Pharisees were merely HUMAN rules, HUMAN traditions. 

I Googled the word "religion" and the Oxford dictionary said, "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. "

Interesting way to put it but okay! Can we agree though, that the definition said "superhuman," right? These rules Jesus that was talking about were HUMAN rules- meaning these rules are not of Him. If you were to then ask that same person that told you what they thought of when they thought of religion, "What do you think will happen to you when you die if you break your 'god's' rules?" They would most likely tell you that they would go to hell. Well.. no one likes rules but no one wants to go to hell either, so sounds like a problem, am I right?

I Googled the word "relationship" and the same Oxford dictionary said, "The way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected." 

Ask people what they think of when they hear the word "relationship" and a lot will say "Love." They might say, "I am in a relationship and I am so in love." 

When you love someone, you want to make them happy, right? Stay with me, I am getting to my point...Lets say that you're not in a romantic "relationship." Lets talk about a different kind of relationship. Think about your mom. (If your mom is no longer with you or she didn't particularly raise you, think of the person that you're closest to that DID raise you.) It sounds weird to say that you're in a relationship with your mom, but lets say you and that person were to not be on good terms right now. You two just were not getting along. Someone you meet may ask you about them and you might say something similar to "Oh, me and her just don't have the best relationship right now." Well you would have to have relationship with your mom to even be able to say that. So we're in agreement that you and her are in a relationship, right? Okay, does your mother (or you fill in the blank here- if not your mom that other mother or father figure) love you? Of course they do. When you were younger, did you have rules that they set in place? Duh! They have to discipline you in some way or you would be a lost cause right now. Because think about it, we push boundaries even when they are in place, so imagine if there were no boundaries. It is the same way with God. He loves you, so he puts "rules" in place. If you didn't love your mom- would you still follow her rules? No.  If some random came up to you and started telling you all these rules you have to abide by, would you listen? Probably not. Even if you did though, who would you be more likely to listen to? That seems so obvious, you would listen to your mom, because you love her and care about what she thinks of you. You don't even know this other person, so what do they matter? Likewise, if you love Jesus and have a RELATIONSHIP with Him, though it may not always be easy to follow His rules and commandments, you will still try because you love Him and care about what He thinks of you. I mean His commandments aren't telling you to do anything crazy. Lets think about it in simple terms. Do you think it is okay to kill someone out of cold blood? Do you think it is okay to steal or would that make you a thief? These are just two of commandments and I think we can agree that He ain't asking for anything too crazy. Of course, read His other commandments as well. Think of other religions where they have to stand a certain way and in a certain direction to even be able to talk and pray to their god. All Jesus asks is three things of you and you have probably heard these often.

A- Admit you're a sinner

B- Believe that Christ is the Son of God and He died for your sins.. and that three days later He rose from the dead. 

C- Confess (tell someone) about your faith and that you want to follow Jesus every single day. You want to follow Him instead of doing life on your own and doing it His way and not your own. 

That's it, ya'll, That is all you have to do. Let me tell you something, you do those three things and fall in love with Jesus, He WILL reveal Himself to you.  Though it may not always be easy, you will want to obey His commandments. Once you receive Christ, you will also receive His Holy Spirit. (John 14:15-31) You receive the Spirit and with it comes it's fruits. (Galatians 5:22. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.) If this does not apply to you, because you are already saved, this next part is for you. I am going to tell ya'll something, I wasn't planning on doing this blog on this topic, I had a whole other thing in mind. I was sitting in the bathtub and this is what was put on my heart to write about. I do feel as though God wants His people to know what I am about to say. 

When we as believers pray, we need to stop sounding like robots with our prayer. Of course, all prayer is good, but we need to talk to Him as though He is our friend- because He is. The verse that comes to my mind when I think of this is Mark 10:14, "When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them , for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." He is our Father. He created us and He wants you to be His friend. When I was getting ready to write this a thought came into my head and this is what it was:

Say you have a best friend and they know you very well, would you go up to them and start talking another language or dialect randomly as if it was your own? No, they would probably make fun of you and they most definitely would say something about it. Same thing with God. He knows us- He MADE us. We need (me included) to start talking to Him as though He is right there with us- because He is. I feel like a lot of the time when people pray- and I have been guilty of this too- we try to sound all professional, use big words, and just altogether try to sound "holy." We pray to Him as though He is a million miles away, when in fact none us of are holy and He is right there with you. 

Trust me, I have been a "lukewarm" Christian in the past. I feel as though I haven't spread the Word like I should. I find that when you're being lukewarm, it is because you are just overall stressed out by religion. I have been a Christian since I was 11, but like we all do- I have been through times of "lukewarmness." Thinking to myself, "I lied so I'm now guilty and therefore shouldn't talk to God because I am unworthy. Let me tell you that that is a lie from the PIT. Christ already died for you. His last words were "It is finished." He wasn't lying, He never lied in His whole life. He was telling everyone IT IS FINISHED. He not only died for everything you have ever done, He died for everything that you're GOING to do in the future. Do you think that the second you accept Christ that you'll never sin again? No. If we were all perfect, there would have been no reason for Jesus to die on the cross. 

God's Word says that we are "SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH." (Ephesians 2:8-9) Did anywhere in that it say, "WE ARE SAVED THROUGH OUR GOOD WORKS AND EFFORTS"? Of course not. Sometimes I get overwhelmed at this. Like, "God, this is all I have to do?" You sent your Son to die for me (John 3:16) and this is all You expect of me? To believe in You, love You, and keep Your commandments? I am not worthy of His love and I never will be. YOU are not worthy of His love and you never will be. This is why we hate religion. Deep down we know we will never measure up. We say to ourselves, "Since I never will be good enough or "holy" enough, it's easier to just not even attempt to love the One who died for me." Lets think about that, "It's easier to just not even attempt to love the One who died for me." I mean, that is ultimately what we are saying when we say that. I mean Jesus DID say, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15) 

If you have ever thought to yourself, "I am not good enough for His Love." Can I tell you something? You are so right. But He gives His Love freely to us ANYWAYS. If you get into a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ, He WILL reveal Himself to you. You keep thinking going to church every week and that being the only time you talk to Him until next Sunday is the end of yalls relationship- that is RELIGION. And guess what....

Jesus hated religion. (Matthew 15)