Religion isn’t enough

 

Religion can only get you so far.

The dictionary defines religion as this:

Belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshipped; any specific system of belief, worship, conduct involving a code of ethics and a philosophy

So, reading that, we could classify Christianity as a religion. But Christianity has a key difference that separates it from all other religions. That difference is relationship!

Most religions of this world are man centred. They are built on the concept that man can reach a higher state of being through their own efforts, through good works and following a set of rules.

Let’s contrast this with Christianity.

Christianity is first and foremost a relationship. 

A relationship with God.

God did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. He bore our sins on the cross. (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our sin separated us from his presence and needed to be punished. But God, through his unconditional love, took on our punishment and extended grace towards us, urging us to accept his gift of salvation through faith. (Ephesians 2:8,9).

This grace-based relationship between God and man is the foundation of Christianity and it is vastly different from the man centred religions of this world.

Let me take you to a very well-known Psalm that might help to illustrate the importance of relationship over religion.

Psalm 23:1-6

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Religion can only get you so far.

Religion might help get you through the green pastures. It might help you as you walk by the still waters. But you’re going to need something greater and stronger to get you through the dark valleys.

Have a closer look at the way David speaks as he penned this Psalm.

In the first 3 verses, David is speaking about God. He says, “He maketh. He leadeth. He restoreth.”

He speaks of God as his kind shepherd. He lists some of the things the shepherd does for him. He speaks lovingly ABOUT him. But then he comes to the valley.

And valleys are where the rubber meets the road. Religion isn’t gonna cut it anymore. Something stronger is needed.

Valleys have a way of changing us. They have a way of transforming our lives.

In this verse, we see a shift. We begin to see ‘thou’ and ‘thy’. In modern English, you!

YOU are with me. YOUR rod and YOUR staff comfort me. YOU prepare a table. YOU anoint my head.

Do you see what happened here? David went from talking ABOUT God to talking TO him!

Religion can do no more than talk about God. But relationship? Relationship talks TO God!

Jesus didn’t just come to this earth to die on a cruel cross bringing forgiveness for our sins for us to simply talk about him. And yes, we need to do this regularly.

Jesus came to this earth so that we could have a personal relationship with him! He wanted connection with us. He wanted us to be able to talk TO him and come TO him with our cares.

Hebrews 4:16 KJV - Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Religion might walk you through the easy times of life, but when you go through those dark valleys, you need more. You need the Father. You need more. You need RELATIONSHIP!

It’s not about rules. It’s about relationship!

The next time you read Psalm 23, take time to think seriously about whether you are stuck in a pattern of focusing on rules and rituals and instead, begin to develop a deepening relationship with God.

Christianity is not about signing up for a religion. Christianity is about being born into the family of God (John 3:3). It is a relationship. God wants us to know Him, to draw near to Him, to pray to Him, and to love Him above all else. He wants us to come to him, to talk to him, to put him first.

That is not religion; that is a relationship.

What will you do? Will you stay stuck in your religious rut, relying on your knowledge of God to get you through the hard times? Or will you make the decision to begin a relationship with God? Will you talk to him and let him speak to you? Only then will your cup run over. Only then will you experience his peace. His presence. His joy. His comfort.

Prioritize daily communication with God through prayer and Bible study.

Be vulnerable with God and pour out your heart to him.

Open your heart to God’s love and practice forgiveness towards others.

Seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and listen for his voice.

 

Religion is not enough! You need relationship!

 

 

 

 

 

The Missing Ingredient

 

How do you treat Scripture? How do you read the inspired, authoritative and holy Word of God? When you open its pages and read verse after verse, chapter after chapter, book after book, how do you see it?

Do you perhaps treat it like a textbook to work your way through or is it instead a treasure to search out?

If you read the Bible like a textbook, it may explain why it feels laborious, boring and dry at times. As tasteless as cardboard. The words have no meaning; knowledge is gained but wisdom is not.

Do you know what is missing in many Christians’ lives when it comes to their reading of the Word of God? The missing ingredient may very well be not the time needed to read it, but curiosity!

We need to be more curious about the Bible and the treasures that lie beneath just a surface reading. The Bible is a book of hidden treasure. Its pages are filled with wisdom, comfort, truth, mercy, justice, grace, instruction, correction. But if we are reading our Bibles like we would read a textbook, we won’t find the gold that lies within.

The Hebrew people have a word for their searching of the Scriptures. It is called midrash. It has the idea of seeking out or inquiring deeply. Investigating, exploring and studying.

We need to approach Scripture with the same relentless curiosity. It’s the kind of searching that has you coming back again and again, always finding something new.

Now, don’t get mixed up with what I’m saying. There is no new revelation to be had. The canon of Scripture is complete, and we will ‘technically’ not find anything new in it, but as we search diligently, we will uncover truths that we haven’t seen before. Passages we didn’t realise were in the Bible will come to light. Promises we were unaware of will jump off the page at us. But this will only happen as we read our Bibles consistently, and with a heart that is seeking, searching and teachable.

The missing ingredient to make Bible study more irresistible is not more time. It is more curiosity.

Let me break this down a little more for you.

Think about one of your favourite hobbies. If you’re anything like me, you have a few to choose from. Have you got one in mind?

Right. With this hobby, do you study it once and then move on? No. Not if you are truly interested in it, you don’t.

You revisit it. You research it. You study it. You learn about it. You watch tutorials on it. You practice it. You share your discoveries with others that love it too. You connect with people with like passions for that hobby.

And that is what true curiosity is all about.

When it comes to God’s Word, there is always more to learn. Ask any Pastor or veteran Christian who has any humility about them. They will tell you honestly that they are always learning new things from God’s Word that they didn’t know before. They are regularly finding treasures in the pages of Scripture.

They believe the promise found in the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 2:1-7 KJV - My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

My husband is an avid treasure hunter. Whether it’s swinging a metal detector over a local showground or park searching for coins or picking over rocks in a dry creek bed looking for a particular gemstone. He’s always on the hunt for a treasure. And his passion has spread to most of his family and we all, the grandkids included, are now treasure hunters always on the lookout for a great find. We search diligently, hoping to find that ‘pearl of great price’. (Matthew 13)

When we bring that analogy over to the Bible, the question isn’t whether the Word of God holds deeper treasures. It’s whether we are willing to take the time to search them out.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret. It doesn’t take hours of study! What? No. It is not long hours, head down, nose in the books, hour after hour. (Although that would be ideal)

It is a consistent curiosity.

It’s a heart that is humble, teachable and always eager to dig deeper, searching for the meaning, the understanding, the correct interpretation. Never content to just read casually.

You know those times when you sit down to read a Psalm or two, and find yourself stuck on the third verse, because you came across a word that didn’t seem to fit the context, which then lead you to looking into the meaning of the word, and then on to a commentary to help make sense of it, which then had you searching cross references and before you know it, you’re waist deep in a treasure box you never saw coming.

The Bible will become alive to you when you stop just trying to get through it and let it get through you.

One old preacher put it so well when he said, “What makes the difference is not how many times you have been through the Bible, but how many times and how thoroughly the Bible has been through you.”

What if you approached just one verse this week with a treasure hunters’ persistence instead of a ‘homework obligation’ mentality?

What if instead of just reading through your chapter a day, you took the time to slow down and dig a little deeper? What if you looked at each word in the verse, studied its context, its author, its time in history, its cultural significance, its true meaning and interpretation? Do you think that maybe your curiosity could unearth a treasure worth more than gold?

It’s worth a shot! The Bible comes with a promise to reward those who diligently study it and its author.

Hebrews 11:6 KJV - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Gold is a precious and rare commodity. It’s not easy to find. You have to spend a significant amount of time and effort searching for it and extracting it.

Gold does you no practical good unless you work it out or the mine or the creek or the soil or the rock.

And so it is with the Word of God. We need to work it out. We need to read it. Study it.

Just like gold will do us no good unless we dig it out of the ground, the Bible will do us no good unless we dig into it and apply it and most importantly, obey it!

We are blessed with so many resources at our fingertips in the age we live in, that we really have no excuse for not becoming treasure hunters of God’s Word.

I dare you to become an avid student of the Word. To make Bible study a new favourite hobby. To research, to discover, to learn, to love and to share.

Ask God to open your eyes and heart so that you will have understanding and knowledge and wisdom.

Success begins with following God’s Word. But we can’t follow God’s Word if we don’t know it. And we won’t know God’s Word if we don’t read it. And we won’t find the treasures it holds unless we read it with a relentless curiosity!

May we say along with the Psalmist,

Psalm 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Stop reading it like a textbook and 

read it for the book it is.

The inspired, living Word of God!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today IS the future

 

 

The only preparation for the morrow is the right use of today. The stone in the hands of the builder must be put in its place and fitted to receive another. The morrow comes for naught, if today is not heeded. Neglect not the call that comes to thee this day, for such neglect is nothing else than boasting thyself of tomorrow. — G. Bowen.

 

I am not ashamed to admit that I have a LOT of hobbies and interests. Only this morning, I was talking to my husband about all the things I wanted to do, and bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t fit it all in.

I can’t remember the last time I was actually bored. Quite possibly, it was 40 years ago! I know, this is showing my age, but it really is true. A person with numerous hobbies will almost NEVER be bored!

That’s a plus. But it does have its downside. The downside is that there are so many things to choose from and only so many hours in a day and only so many days in a week. Weeks turn into months and months into years, and we are left scratching our heads as to where the time went and what we have to show for it.

Priorities become of paramount importance.

Do you realise that every day is a gift from God?

Do you realise that with each breath you breathe, with every inhale and exhale, you are reflecting the goodness of God? Every morning that we open our eyes and see the sun peek over the horizon is a gift from God. It is a new day full of opportunities for joy, for growth, for gratitude and the chance to show God’s love and reflect his heart to those around us.

Every single heartbeat is a gift from God. Don’t take it for granted.

If this is true, and it is, then how do we use, accept, and cherish the gift we’ve been given?

We make good use of it!

Read over the quote at the top of the page again.

“The only preparation for the morrow is the right use of today”

What are you doing with your day? Are you stopping to acknowledge the gift that it is?

Every day, as we rise out of bed and prepare for the day, we make a choice as to how we will use our day. What will I prioritize? What will I fill my day with? How will I spend my God-given 24 hours?

If we want to prepare for tomorrow, we have to make good use of today.

Today IS the future. What you do with your today greatly impacts what your tomorrows look like.

Did you just casually step over your day while chasing a career? Did it pass you by while you were wishing yourself into a new season? Did you get so busy with family life, appointments, bills and your to-do list that before you knew it, the day was gone, and a new one had begun?

James 4:14 - Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Time is short. Life is a passing shadow. And today is important. What you choose to fill your day with today impacts what happens the next day, and the next and the next.

We are reminded in scripture that our days are numbered, and our life is like a vapour. What we do with our time is so important.

On my free days, when my outside-the-home work is done, I often face quite the conundrum. With endless possibilities to fill my day with, I have to make a choice as to what is important, what is urgent, what I want to do, what I need to do, what I have time to do etc etc.

I often feel like the apostle Paul in Romans when he says, “For the good that I would I do not….” etc. (Romans 7) I know this is not totally in context, but I think you get what I mean.

The only way we can prepare for the future and the days ahead, is by using today wisely. Which is why I say, what you choose to do or not to do today, will have a direct impact on what lies ahead.

Priorities. Priorities. Priorities. Why does it always come down to priorities? It really does matter how we fill our days. It really does matter that we ask for God’s wisdom in organizing our days, letting Him arrange our days and prioritize our never-ending to-do lists.

Sometimes we just need to set aside our hobbies for the day and spend time in God’s Word. Reading, studying, meditating and learning from him. I’m glad that that IS one of my favourite hobbies and interests. But sometimes, I’ll admit, it’s a toss-up between that and so many other things.

Sometimes it’s people we need to make time for. That friend that needs encouragement. That new convert that needs discipling. That frazzled mum that needs a hand in her home or an hour to herself to run errands without the children in tow.

No matter what role or what season we find ourselves in, we always have people counting on us, relying on us, and possibly looking up to us. We are setting an example by how we choose to spend our days.

When we fill our precious days with things of eternal value, it's like a bank up in Heaven receiving a deposit. Gaining interest. Laying up treasures in Heaven. (Matthew 6:19-21) Every day we take for granted and every day we don’t offer up to God, asking him to order it, is a day wasted. An opportunity wasted.

Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take a ‘chill’ day now and then. Even Christ himself rested and emphasized its importance. (Mark 6:31)

There are times when we need to take a day to slow down the pace a little, take some time off, catch up with friends, do some shopping or whatever it is that you do to relax.  We just need to be mindful of the time we are spending on different activities and take care that we don’t prioritize the comfortable over the important.

We need God’s wisdom each and every day. We need his wisdom to know how he would have us use our time. We are reminded in Ephesians to redeem the time.

Ephesians 5:15-16 - See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

One of the definitions for the Greek word used for redeeming is to “rescue it from loss”. I think that is a very apt definition. We have to rescue our days from loss. Rescue them from being wasted.

We need to consistently ask for God to order our days. Although we may have our day all planned out, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, God often has a different plan altogether. And we have to be okay with that.

He sees the bigger picture. His eyesight is a lot better than ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

It’s not an easy thing to hold our day out to God with an open hand, letting him pour into it or take out of it what he wills.

Just remember, if you keep your fist tightly closed over your nicely laid plans, it hurts a lot more when God has to pry your fingers open.

I must confess that I don’t like having my little 'day plan' rearranged. I like to plan ahead. I like to know what I am going to do before I get out of bed, but I've found that time after time, when I let God order my day, he blesses it, and he brings to it a freshness that wouldn’t have been there if I had stubbornly resisted his changes.

 

Give your todays and tomorrows to God. Keep your hands open and your heart receptive.

 

 

If today is a gift from God, shouldn't we let Him choose how He wraps it? 

 

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,

Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;

Each with its days I must fulfill,

living for self or in His will

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

C.T.Studd

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t fight it. Follow it.

Embrace the distractions and lean into them.

 

How often do you find yourself sitting down to pray, or in my case, lying in bed, wakeful, in the early hours of the morning, and you just can’t focus?

As you begin to pray, the anxiety, the swirling thoughts and all of life’s cares are so loud that your attention is diverted and your mind starts wandering.

You want to bring your requests before the Lord. You have the best of intentions, but you can’t keep your thoughts from jumping all over the place.

Can I help free you from the burden of feeling like you’ve failed?

I heard something recently that did just that for me.

This speaker said, when this happens, “Don’t fight it. Follow it.”

I know that this sounds backwards and wrong. But it has to do with our thinking.

We are led to believe that prayer needs to be this polished conversation, very eloquent, well-articulated and done in some type of orderly fashion.  

Now, don’t get me wrong, we are given examples of how to pray in the Bible, the most well-known is often called the Lord’s prayer (Luke 11) where the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. There is a lot to be said on this subject that cannot be covered in just one short post, so I will not go into it here and now.

We do need to address God reverently with awe and humility. But as you read through your Bible, you will see prayer after prayer that is prayed in such a raw, unfiltered, heartfelt and sincere way that I find it difficult to understand that anyone would think less of a person that simply pours their heart out to God in whatever words tumble from their lips wholeheartedly, genuinely and honestly.

Let me break this down. This is how it often goes.

When you set out to pray, whether in the night watches, at a prayer meeting or in your daily devotions, you begin to pray about one thing, but your mind suddenly pulls you towards something else.

You sit down to pray about your finances, but your mind starts drifting to the lady you spoke with on Sunday. You begin to pray about your health, but your mind drifts to your child and their lack of understanding of simple concepts in their Math homework that day. You start to pray about a workmate but your mind drifts towards a ministry in the church you are burdened about. You begin to pray about one thing, and your mind takes to you a totally different thing.

What do you do?

You pray about it.

If your prayer about your finances drifts towards the conversation with the lady on Sunday, then pray for her. Don’t fight the drift. Follow it. Pray for her.

If your prayer about your health drifts towards your child, then pray for them. Don’t fight it. Pray about it.

You get where I’m going with this?

What if the very thing that is distracting you is actually the very thing God is inviting you to pray about?

Don’t fight it. Follow it.

Even if it feels random. And unpolished. And out of order. Or small.

Did you know that prayer isn’t about performance? I have heard many prayers in my lifetime that were so eloquent and so well-articulated that they left me thinking that God would hear them above my own. They made my timid, humble mumblings seem insignificant to say the least.

I’ll say it again. It’s not about performance.

It’s about relationship.

The goal isn’t to speak perfect prayers or well-formed sentences. It’s not about perfection, it’s about presence.

The presence of God.

It’s about being in the presence of God. Coming to him, broken, hurting, needing the refreshing and renewal that only he can bring. Bringing our prayers of lament, or sorrow, or heartache, coming humbly before him and finding peace in his presence.

If God is laying something or someone on your heart and mind that is different than what you started out to pray for, then lean into it. Follow it.

I am easily distracted if I am not in my hyper-focused zone. This is most often the case for me when I’m praying. But even my distractions can lead me deeper in my relationship with God if I bring them to God.

As I pray, about everything and anything that comes to mind, I am exercising a muscle. A prayer muscle, if you will. The more I pray, the stronger my focus gets. It may not be where I thought it would go when I started praying, but the more consistent I am with praying through the distractions, offering prayer on behalf of the ones God brings to mind, as they come to mind, the more I exercise the muscle, the more passionate and sincere my prayers become.

As my mind begins to wander, I don’t fight the wandering, I tell God about it. I let him direct the prayer. I let him lead me to who and what I need to pray for.

If I start to pray with my list of requests in hand, and his love washes over me, causing me to pour out my heart in gratitude to him for his greatness and his goodness towards me, I go with it. I lay aside the requests and I continue my prayer of praise. I know that God will bring those requests back to mind when he is ready.

I know that this may seem weird and maybe a little way out there, but I really feel like somebody needs to hear this today.

Somebody reading this needs to experience the freedom that comes when you let God direct your prayers.

He wants the whole, distracted, messy you. Not some polished version of you that is only a façade.

Every one of us has people in our sphere of influence that are unique to anyone else. God will bring to mind people that in the place of prayer, we may see as random and an interruption to our planned-out prayer, but is actually an ordained, divine appointment.

Don’t fight those moments. Use them to intercede for others.

Let the distraction be an appointment.

Embrace it. Lean into it and most importantly, pray about it.

Philippians 4:6-8 - Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.