Tuesday, March 10, 2015

God without religion





Seven years ago I told my friend at work that I'm a little curious about God. My friend told me they have a Bible study group for 20-somethings at her church that I could check out. "Oh no, I wouldn't wanna do that, I'm not religious", I said. My friend explained to me that she's not religious either but that she has strong faith. I remember thinking that I had no idea what she was talking about. It took me many years to learn the difference between having faith in God and being religious. I used to think the two automatically came together.


The easiest way to explain what it means to be religious could be to say that religious people follow other people. People who have faith in God follow Him, not people. Religious people also love rules and often tend to judge others for not following all the rules, while they themselves pick and choose which rules they want to follow. Religious people can often be more about "appearing Christian" than actually following Jesus for real.


If people tell you they are Christian but you can tell by their actions that they aren't really that different from regular people, chances are these people are religious. If a person is a true follower of Jesus you will be able to tell by how they talk, work, serve, love, live and by what their life goals are. This doesn't mean that the follower of Jesus is free of faults, but you will be able to tell that something about this person's life is different, even without the person revealing that he is a Christian.


Religious people easily get stuck in following a group of people's view on God, while a person of faith has a personal relationship with God. We establish our personal relationship with God by reading his word in the Bible and by having conversations with him through prayer. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible right now is Luke:6. It's so good! :)


Each one of us needs to make sure we are really following God himself, and not a group of people's opinions. We don't believe because somebody says we should believe in God, we believe because our eyes have been opened and we have seen what He has done for us in our own lives. The more you have seen God move in your life the stronger your faith in him will become, and the more you come to Him for help and guidance the more He will move on your behalf. Prepare to be amazed and in awe at what He can do if you only have faith in Him. We serve an awesome God! :)



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