Luke warm. Religious or Relationship, which do you have?

Would you consider yourself to be a Luke warm Christan?  Would you consider yourself to be a Christian at all or do you think of yourself as a religious person?  What are the characteristics that make you any of these things and where do you find it that any of these things are approving to God? 

All of these things are a checklist that we like to give to ourselves to feel we are right with God.  It’s kind of like the gold star you get in Kindergarten for doing a good job.  At the end of the day when you lay your head down to sleep you can rest knowing that you have fulfilled your duties that day of being a Christian, a Luke Warm Christian or a religious person.   I don’t see how any of these things are good for us.

I don’t believe that when God sent Jesus, to die on the cross, he was doing it so we can have all these categories for our beliefs.  I believe that God sent us Jesus to save us from ourselves, but yet we have still found a way to make it easier for us. 

If you want to be a Luke warm Christian, you can only apply so much of yourself to knowing God, and applying his principals to your life, and still sleep soundly at night. If you are a religious person, you can follow all of your rules and regulations, and still go to sleep at night, thinking you have been pleasing to God. 

What happened to just having a relationship with God?  Why did we decide as a people, that there needs to be titles to everything we do?   I personally, do not like to be categorized as being religious.  Actually, I will correct people, when they try to put me into the box of a religion.  I am not a religious person.  I am not a Luke warm Christian, I am not any of that, nor do I want, to be labeled as being any of that.

Jesus told us clearly in John 3 that God gave us Jesus to save us from eternal damnation.   He didn’t come to judge us, he came to save us, but aren’t we judging each other, when we give each other titles of what they should be in their faith?

Jesus tells us that he did not come to judge, so how is it that we can judge?  There is hypocrisy in this that bothers me among believers, and I really believe it keeps non-believers from wanting what we have, which is Jesus.   When we walk around saying, this is the way to pray, or how we, believe is right or wrong, what we are saying to the people who are unsure of their faith.  When we say that you have to look a certain way, speak a certain way, pray a certain way or run your household a certain way, what are we saying to non-believers? 

Jesus came to make us clean, that was his sacrifice.  He didn’t look at the sinner and say no, no, not you.  You must do this before I will shed my blood for you, so why do we? 

This is actually something that kept me from Church for a very long time.  I had family members who said they served God, but would take me from church to church to church, getting me saved as a young child.   The harm this did to me as a child struggling to understand life was very damaging.   I was very nervous and unsure of attending church, from the many experiences I have had, from my childhood, and it kept me away from attending church as a young adult.

I knew that I belonged to God, that I believed in Jesus, and his sacrifice for me, but why did I have to prove it to the people around me?  I was more concerned with the approval from my family, than I was about being right with God.  

I still see this in the world and it upsets me.  I know that there are people in this world, who need to see my relationship with God, as it is and in its purest, truthful form.   People around me need to see that I am not perfect, and that I struggle, but that I serve a God, who is real and that he will help me with every problem I encounter.   We don’t need to continue showing the pretty picture of religion. 

Religion is not pretty. It’s not to be glamorized.  We should be glamorizing God the King of Kings.  The creator of Heaven and Earth.  We should be spending our time with God, and allowing him to work through us, in the world.   When we categorize people, what is wrong and right with them, we are saying to them, you have to be of a certain measure to be allowed to know God, and that is not the case. 

We should be showing people that having a relationship with God and believing in Jesus is important.  That living a life that glorifies God, and the sacrifices that have been made for us, is not something that we are entitled to, but something done freely for everyone. 

Anyone can come before Jesus and accept his free gift of sacrifice… ANYONE.   We need to be light into this very dark world, and start spreading the love that God has given to all of us, with the people who are unsure of what they believe, or don’t believe at all.   Jesus came to give sight to the blind and to be light in the darkness. 

When people are walking around in darkness they don’t see their sins or their mistakes, because they are in darkness.  Just as you wouldn’t see the piece of furniture you are going to walk into, and stub your toe on, in a dark room, but if you bring light, even a little ray of light, into that dark room you will see clearly your path.  This is Jesus. 

 Any small amount of light that pierces into the heart and mind of a person who is encompassed in darkness will show them their mistakes, and what they lack.   It is not my job or yours to decide who gets to see Jesus or not.  It is not my job to tell you when or how to worship or pray to God.  It is my job to be a representative of light in a dark place and the only way I can do that is through Jesus. 

We have a responsibility not to qualify people around us, but to bring quality of our relationship with God to the people around us.   

Remember this the next time you look at someone who doesn’t look like you, or who has tattoos, and piercings, and remember Jesus died for all of us… ALL OF US… including you!