Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4: 9 - 12 NKJV
It is common knowledge that one must never argue two topics...religion or politics. For when we get engaged in such discussions we quickly digress into many a heated argument. I heard the point raised this week, does God desire religion or relationship? From my experience, I would say that our heavenly Father desires relationship with His children far above any religion man may come up with. That is the trouble with religion, it's all man made. Mans fingerprints are all over many a failed religious system. Religion tells us that the only way to God is through the laws and commandments set forth by those who profit from the religion. Relationship with God tells us that we have direct access to the Father whether we have religion or not. One of the major religious teachers of his day was the man Saul of Tarsus. Strictly legalistic, Saul believed that the early followers of Christ Jesus needed to be rounded up and scourged for their blasphemous beliefs in a man claiming to be the Son of God. To Saul, this was a insult to God. However, something happened on that road to Damascus. It was here where Saul came face to face with the one he had persecuted for so long. It was here where religion met with relationship. When it was over, Saul was blind and on his way to seeing things from a different perspective. I find it interesting that the very first reaction of the man Saul when confronted by Jesus was, "Who are you, Lord?" Being a legalistic, religious man, Saul obviously knew that he was dealing with something, or someone not of this world. The transformation of the man Saul had begun. God wasn't interested at all in the legalistic religion of the man Saul. What He was interested in was a relationship with this man who had spent so much time persecuting His church.
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2: 44 - 47 NKJV
From my point of view, I cannot see how God would desire a world of legalistic robots blindly following rules and regulations all in the name of getting closer to Him. Yet, that is what more than a few religions have been teaching for thousands of years. There are rules to follow if you want to be saved. There are rules to follow if you want to be married. There are even rules to follow in regards to the utensils we eat with. It seems that in a religious system, getting closer to God requires a lot rules and regulations. This was Saul's life. That is, up until he met up with the one who only wanted relationship with this man who had persecuted Jesus for so long. Now, the man Paul would learn what relationship with Christ Jesus really entailed. He would also learn the price he would pay for that relationship. In all of my years sitting in the pews of different churches, relationship was never something that was preached. What was preached was commandments and how God blessed those who followed them. Yet, run afoul of these requirements and that loving God you sang every Sunday suddenly morphed into a vengeful God. So, onward the Christian soldiers marched hoping to somehow get closer to God. Does this sound like something God desires? For his part, Paul spoke to the relationship he discovered in Christ in Galatians. It is Paul who introduces us to the ultimate in relationships, that relationship we share with Christ Jesus {Galatians 2:20}. A relationship based not on simply getting closer to God...but on being one with Him through Christ.
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galatians 2: 20 NKJV
~Scott~
No comments:
Post a Comment