Religion: October 11, 2012

TODAYS WORD FOR THURSDAY OCTOBER 11, 2012

RELIGION

DEFINITION:

A set of beliefs concerning the cause and purpose of the universe; a particular set of beliefs and practices; something a person believes in; the service and worship of God or the supernatural.

SCRIPTURE:

"If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their time of trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from this world." James 1:26-27

"How great is the love the father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God; and that is what we are." I John 3:1

"Now if we are children of God then we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ." Romans 8:17

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

If we read the newspapers and magazines or watch the television we will hear much about religion in our world especially from the middle-east. We continue to watch and see the turmoil in the middle-east and hear dialogue on the good and bad of religion in that area of our world.

Recently we received an e-mail message from a young man living in Afghanistan. He had been reading our devotionals for several weeks and said he finally had to write and ask us why we felt knowing Jesus was the only way that he could get to heaven. He went on to say that he had studied many religions and that they all said that one would go to some sort of heaven.  He went on to tell us that he was a Muslim but was searching and was considering trying Jesus as his new religion.

Many people are very confused, as is this young man, and even defensive when we talk about religion. This is because there are so many "religions" in our culture today and one hears so many conflicting concepts and ideas. A non-believer in Jesus gets confused and does not know how to respond concerning their belief in religion. So the normal response is that religion does not concern them. When we talk to someone about our "religion", we make it clear that we are talking about a "relationship" not a religion that is a series of concepts and "do's and don'ts". This is what we explained to our friend in Afghanistan.

Very simply we have a personal relationship with Jesus. This relationship began when we accepted Jesus into our hearts as our personal Savior. God sent His Son to this earth to pay the penalty for our sins and we accepted His offer of redemption. There is no other religion that makes this offer. All other "religions" offer a set of rituals such as doing good works, church attendance, penance, etc. The difference is the "RELATIONSHIP."

A relationship with Jesus changes us. Knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior changes our heart and our desires which is what religious rituals cannot do.

We have with Jesus a family relationship grounded in love. It was because God loved us that He sent His Son so that by believing in Him we could become children of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. There is a reason that it was necessary for God to send His Son to this earth. As a result of the sin of Adam and Eve, we are all born sinners. This is a fact and not a theory. God is completely holy and entirely without sin. Sin is what separates us from God. There is no amount of good works or any amount of spiritual rituals that will cleanse us from our sins.

We are sinners and the penalty for our sins must be paid. This is why God sent His Son to this earth, to pay the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross. We must be willing to admit that we are sinners, confess our sins, and ask for God's forgiveness and then acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Savior and redeemer. The shed blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL our sins and restores us into a right relationship with God. All who believe and receive Jesus as Savior become children of God and will spend an eternity with God and His Son Jesus. What a privilege to be the recipient of such great love and to be able to call God "Our Father." And just think of all the untold and unseen riches that will be ours as joint heirs with Christ.

In the verses that we have written above from the book of James, we read that the fruit of our religion is in what we do and what we say. Our relationship with Jesus is a heart relationship and not, as many think, a head religion. When we have a relationship (our religion) with Jesus we will watch what we say, bridle our tongue, and our deeds will be a commitment to honor our Lord by helping those in need, including widows and orphans. When we have a relationship with Christ it is important that the people around us are able to see evidence of our relationship with Christ by the way we live our lives. When we do not live by God's Word and practice what God teaches James tells us that "our religion is useless."

Is your "religion" just a series of rituals that you do your best to try to honor? In your "religion" do you have a certainty that you will spend eternity with God? Is your "religion" a relationship with Jesus that gives you the certain hope for an eternity with God? You can know about God, but you cannot know God until you have entered a relationship with God and become a "child of God." It is our prayer that you will become a "Child of God" if you have not done so already.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in I Peter 5:7.

Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

PRAYER:

Help me today to live a God-honoring life so that others will be aware of my relationship with Jesus. Help me to watch what I say so every word that proceeds out of my mouth glorifies Your name. Give me today a caring attitude that compels me to reach out and help those in need.