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Religion I have a favorite quote about religion posted on my desk where I can read it often. Taken from a children’s history book by Genevieve Foster, it is simple and keeps things in perspective for me. In Augustus Caesar’s World, Foster writes that our word “religion” comes from the Latin word religio, which originates from another word meaning to bind fast. She then summarizes as follows: And this is what religion is: Man’s desire and effort to bind himself fast and secure to the Great Spirit of the Universe. As believers, we know “the Great Spirit of the Universe” is the God of the Bible; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The above definition strikes me because it clearly states whose efforts religion centers on: OURS. It captures the constant underlying tendency to make certain we “bind ourselves fast and secure” to God. In both conspicuous and subtle ways, we are constantly presented with all we must learn and do to ensure we are tightly bound to God. It saddens me that many of us in Christianity have fallen into the same mindset. Just last week I read the following statement in a pastor’s devotional: The God of heaven is our God and His voice will never cease to tell us what we need to do to make Him happy. This is one of those passages [Numbers and Deuteronomy] we should read more than once, just to make sure we have it right. How is that approach any different from peoples across the ages that believed their well-being depended on pleasing their god by carrying out various practices and behavior? How can this attitude free anyone in today’s world regardless of culture? We may believe in the Triune God, but if we continue to base our connection on expressing those beliefs properly, we don’t know Him and are still missing the point. Our God is different. Our God takes initiative. I believe Jesus came to free us from religion as much as He came to free us from anything. We have a God who loves us and provides a way to unite with Him no matter our life circumstance or how we feel. We have a God who hands down a verdict of “not guilty” to us because of Jesus and His intercessory work. That provision is a result of His effort, not ours. We tap into that provision through the vehicle of belief that outweighs all we think, feel and do. God means it when He says He made a way for us to be close to Him; our work is to believe (John 6:29). The only thing holding us back from receiving it is a refusal to believe for whatever reason – distraction, ignorance, self-protection, fear, rebellion. He has covered it all if we will open our hearts to Him and set aside our preoccupation with ourselves. How can we enjoy Him when we remain focused on our feet? Oh, to be enthralled with the One with Whom we are walking rather than focusing on our steps! In contrast to religion, this is what love is: God’s desire and efforts to provide life for His children. They need not fear or strive; they are bound fast and secure to Him, the Great God of heaven and earth. Walk confidently in that love. Verses for Reflection This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. (1 John 4:10 GNB) Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." (John 6:29 NASB) "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' (Acts 17:24-28 NASB) "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. (John 10:27-29 NASB) "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3 NASB) |
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