I’m a picky person -it’s part of my personality. Some things other people might simply accept can become thoughts for me to ponder, ideas for me to categorize, or concepts for me to more deeply understand. Since Jesus changed my heart and I became a Christian, I’ve struggled with some concepts. One of those is religion.
I recall conversations in the past where we discussed how Christianity wasn’t a religion, and I agreed. But then later I’d ask myself why wasn’t it a religion? Why was Christianity different than religion? I googled and read things and talked to people about it. Today I was thinking about it again and a simple example of the difference between following Jesus (Christianity) and religion came to me…
RELIGION: Religion is like being part of an organization, like the Coast Guard or Fire Department. There are rules guiding your behavior, and you get reviewed on your job performance. So, religion is very formal and you need to perform well in order to advance – and keep your job!
CHRISTIANITY: Christianity is more like a good relationship with a parent. There aren’t really any formal rules, although people can and do come up with them. You really shouldn’t have to prove anything to a parent, they should just love you. The things you do in your relationship with your parents might be viewed by others as if you were following rules and you might even feel like you get performance reviews, but those parents who are real pearls don’t judge you like that. They just love you the way you are and that’s that.
You might or might not have that kind of parent, but you should. And no parent can always measure up to the desire we have for that kind of relationship. God designed us to desire that relationship and the love that comes from it, and only he can fill it. The good news is that you can have that relationship with Jesus Christ. Now and forever. God is the perfect father and he sent Jesus into this world at the right time to die for our sins so that we might be brought into a relationship with him again. Jesus took care of it for us! Jesus fixed it! Jesus paid for that sin in our lives, the sin we live out regularly … he paid for it on the cross!
You may have heard this before, a promise for those who will trust their lives to him and confess their sin, and all of us have sin:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
– John 3:16
My Walk with Jesus Christ 