The Stronghold of Religion!!!

Today's Passage: Romans 7

Memory Verse: Rom. 7: 5-6

Thursday April 22, 2010

Blessings, Friends and Lifers! Religion: man's attempt to reach God. Religion by label started out as a good idea. It points the hearts of men toward a moral standard of living. It, for the most part, calls the attention of men to the fact that there's Someone greater than them in existence.

Here's how the enemy uses religion. It causes us to live under the "letter" of the law instead of the "spirit" of the law. And the trouble with that is we couldn't fulfill the letter of the law even on our best spiritual day. Most people who try to live this way fail and ultimately give up before they can even begin the journey. Look at the lives of the people in the Old Testament. They had to pray at pre-ordained times, dress in certain ways, and sacrifice animals, over and over again, just to connect to the Father. Their lives were filled with rules. They were told they couldn't do this and they couldn't do that. What a life! Not only that, the penalty for breaking the law was severe. There were stonings and imprisonments for even minor infractions. Most of us would be dead or serving lifetime sentences for the laws we break. So we approach living under the law from an avenue of fear, not reverence. But then Jesus came. See, as I said before, religion is man's attempt to get to God. And we must realize that as a man, who is flesh and blood, we'll never be able to satisfy the rigors of the law to accomplish that. Jesus' presence was a clarion call to the fact that God wants relationship, not religion. Now relationship still acknowledges the law, but it allows us to respond to the law by way of love, not fear. God wants us to love Him, worship Him, and live for Him in spirit and in truth. Religion holds us in this place of complacency (just like the people in the Old Testament) that says if we perform the same way over and over again, we'll be doing God a favor. So we enter our churches doing and saying the same things week after week; feeling as though if we just "attend" church, it validates us as Christians. Wake up, Body of Christ! You know full well that going to church doesn't make you any more a Christian than standing in your garage makes you a car. We cannot allow ourselves to buy into this doctrine that because nobody's perfect, we can lead these double lives (being Christians on Sunday and sinners on Monday through Saturday).

I challenge you today to grow. Desire to know God on a deeper level. The more you get to know Him, the more you'll know how much He really loves you. And you'll understand why He went to such great lengths to demonstrate that love. Discovering your relationship with God will also keep you from breaking the law because you love Him so much, not because you're afraid to get stoned to death. And can you imagine having to pour lamb's blood all over yourself instead of just calling His name in worship? I don't know about you, but I'll take the relationship. Relationship says "Jesus, your death on the cross is my sacrifice and my pathway to the presence of God." You can live knowing you'll be covered by "His" blood as long as you stay submitted to Him.

Prayer: Father, thank you so much for seeing my end from my beginning. You knew before I was even born that I'd never be able to measure up to the standard of your holiness. Your sacrifice for me was greater than any sacrifice I'll ever make for You. That's why I'll worship You for the rest of my life. In Jesus' Name, Amen.