Religion vs. Relationship; Works vs. Response
"Relationship makes us more like God.
Religion makes us more like men." from the Yada Yahweh website author.
"To live the Christian life is not our "responsibility", rather it is "our response to His Ability."
As I think on this thought, I am reminded of the Scripture in James 1:23-25:
"For whoever hears the Word but doesn't do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror; who looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But if a person looks closely into the perfect law of liberty and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does."
This describes "relationship". We look into the mirror of God's Word to see what He is like, so that we can become like Him, just as a little child watches his or her parents and imitates them.
Religion, on the other hand, has the end result of separating us from God by presenting a false picture. Religion tells us that we are sinners, and that God is mad at us because we are sinners. So we try to appease Him and win His favor by doing good deeds, hoping that if our good deeds outweigh the bad, God will see that and let us in to heaven. People from all cultures observe some type of religion. Most all religions recognize the sinfulness of mankind and encourage people to work toward appeasing a god of some sort. These are dead works, and not the kind of "work" that James was talking about When we obey the Scriptures, it is not in hopes of appeasing some far off, angry deity. We respond to what we read in the Scriptures because we know that they paint a picture of what we are to "look like" and "act like". God's Word is like a mirror that reflects God's image to us.
But the good news of the Gospel is that God is not mad at us.
Well, you might say, "But we are sinners."
If you have called out to God, asking Him to forgive you of your sin, and acknowledged God's remedy for sin - the penalty of sin being paid for through the precious life-blood of Jesus - then according to Scripture, you are a Saint of God - not a sinner. We might fall once in a while because we still live in a fallen world, and still contend with mortal flesh, but spiritually we have been made new. We are being made into His image. The Scriptures show us what He is like. That is why we need to read them. How else can we know Him? When we read the Scriptures, it is not so that we can become legalistic and follow them to the letter and prove to God that we can accomplish these things in our own strength. No! We let the Scriptures paint the pictures of God's love and personality within us, and we simply respond to Him.
Religion makes us more like men." from the Yada Yahweh website author.
"To live the Christian life is not our "responsibility", rather it is "our response to His Ability."
As I think on this thought, I am reminded of the Scripture in James 1:23-25:
"For whoever hears the Word but doesn't do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror; who looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But if a person looks closely into the perfect law of liberty and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does."
This describes "relationship". We look into the mirror of God's Word to see what He is like, so that we can become like Him, just as a little child watches his or her parents and imitates them.
Religion, on the other hand, has the end result of separating us from God by presenting a false picture. Religion tells us that we are sinners, and that God is mad at us because we are sinners. So we try to appease Him and win His favor by doing good deeds, hoping that if our good deeds outweigh the bad, God will see that and let us in to heaven. People from all cultures observe some type of religion. Most all religions recognize the sinfulness of mankind and encourage people to work toward appeasing a god of some sort. These are dead works, and not the kind of "work" that James was talking about When we obey the Scriptures, it is not in hopes of appeasing some far off, angry deity. We respond to what we read in the Scriptures because we know that they paint a picture of what we are to "look like" and "act like". God's Word is like a mirror that reflects God's image to us.
But the good news of the Gospel is that God is not mad at us.
Well, you might say, "But we are sinners."
If you have called out to God, asking Him to forgive you of your sin, and acknowledged God's remedy for sin - the penalty of sin being paid for through the precious life-blood of Jesus - then according to Scripture, you are a Saint of God - not a sinner. We might fall once in a while because we still live in a fallen world, and still contend with mortal flesh, but spiritually we have been made new. We are being made into His image. The Scriptures show us what He is like. That is why we need to read them. How else can we know Him? When we read the Scriptures, it is not so that we can become legalistic and follow them to the letter and prove to God that we can accomplish these things in our own strength. No! We let the Scriptures paint the pictures of God's love and personality within us, and we simply respond to Him.
posted by Laurie T at
2:30 PM
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