Keepin’ It Real or Religious

I taught my children early that going to church doesn’t make them a Christian anymore than being in a garage makes them a car. It’s easy for some people to have the appearance of religion because they listen to Christian music, attend church regularly, and pray over their meals. Yet it is entirely possible for them to miss the mark of real and genuine faith in God.

The religious teachers and scribes of Jesus’ day were exceptionally skilled in the Scriptures; however, many of them wouldn’t accept Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. How could they miss the clear teachings of Isaiah about Jesus? It’s because of their hearts—an unwillingness to humble themselves so that they could clearly see Emmanuel.

If we don’t stay real in our faith, we can easily be blinded like the Pharisees and fall into the trap of being simply religious. We are creatures of habit anyway, and we can find ourselves monotonously praying the same prayers every morning and night. We can sit in our pews anxiously watching our time so that we can do what we really want to do. We can sing the songs of salvation because of the upbeat music and miss the message of knowing God.

It takes some effort to break out of the status quo of looking like a Christian to really living like a Christian. Keeping it real isn’t about the outside appearance as much as it is about the inner dynamic, growing relationship with God. We can refuse to go through the motions of religion and instead pursue Jesus Christ with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. Our lives will reveal the fragrance of the pure spiritual fruit of walking with God.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I want to keep our relationship real every day. I pray for a Holy Spirit awakening in my heart to keep me from being religious without a relationship with you. Amen.

In His Service,

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