When people think about God and Christianity, the image many paint on the canvas of their mind is that God is religious. From where does the image originate?
First, those Christians who have not been taught the New Covenant, tend to view God as religious and express that to others. Their thinking includes believing God is mainly about rules we must follow such as the 10 Commandments and more. If we obey them, he will bless us and love us as demonstrated by giving us delightful circumstances. If we sin, he will punish us and love us less as demonstrated by difficulties to come our way. When those who do not know Jesus see this type of thinking in Christians, they conclude God must be religious.
Second, every one of us is born with a religious mentality which originates from the knowlege of good and evil. False religions, deceived cults, and legalistic Christianity are rooted in the toxic ground of this knowledge. Everyone in the world lives by some types of rules. Whether it’s the gangs in the streets, the godless athiests in the shadows, or the gloomy legalistic Christians in churches, they all live by rules, even if it’s the ones they’ve concocted themselves.
When we revisit the creation of Adam, there are truths that shout “GOD IS NOT RELIGIOUS!” When he breathed into Adam the breath of life, in Hebrew, “life” is actually plural, “lives”. This means the entire Trinity entered Adam so he could enjoy the love, fellowship and relationship Father, Son and Holy Spirit had enjoyed forever. The same was true of Eve who was formed by God from Adam’s rib. God did not give Adam and Eve the 10 Commandments to live by, clearly showing we were never created to live by religious rules. One more beautiful truth is, the day after Adam and Eve showed up on planet earth, their first day was day seven, a day of rest. (Genesis 2:2-3, and 2:7)
God is not religious. God is relational! You were not united with Christ through your faith to be religious but rather relational with God and people! Let go of the burden of religious thinking and let in the restful, relational thinking that will encourage you every day!
Live free in Christ!
