Religion vs. Relationship

Even back to Isaiah's time, this was a confusing subject.What's wrong with religion? Aren't works good things? Isn't memorizing scripture a good thing? Well, yes, of course! If you know the bible frontwards and backwards, inwards and outwards, that is a beautiful thing. If you follow every rule and feed the hungry, give money to the poor and take care of the widows and orphans like the Word says, that is also a beautiful thing.

The problem is that religion alone doesn't change anyone's heart...unless the actions are based on relationship rather than religion. 

Isaiah 28 is written as a warning to Jerusalem and Judah of what their wickedness and refusal to turn back to God was going to bring - Judah would be taken over by the Assyrians and Jerusalem was going to be destroyed. 

One thing that caught my attention this morning as I was reading, was how the priests and prophets in those regions were misleading the people with something that looks like this...

"For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here and a little there." (28:10)

For the majority of my life, I was caught in this same cycle - do and do, do and do; rule on rule, rule on rule. Because I thought that God just wanted me to do everything right - perfect. The more I did, the more I thought God was smiling down on me with approval. But the reverse also happened: when I didn't do something right. If I fell into a sinful pattern or just didn't do "enough" in my own eyes, I thought God was shaking his head in disappointment at me. 

So in turn, I would try harder. I would vow to be better, to clean myself up and make myself "good". 

This is what religion does without relationship. It keeps you in a cycle of thinking works are your way to salvation - "Doing more, being better not only will get you to heaven, but it will give you more when you get there."

Isaiah continues to speak into this mindset by saying, "Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom he said 'This is the resting place, let the weary rest'; and ' This is the place of repose' - but they would not listen. So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do and do, do and do; rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there - so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured." (28:11-13) 

Have you ever felt God try to get you to rest? Have you felt the tug that says, "Hey, child, come here, sit down and rest with me. All your striving gets you nowhere unless you know me." ? 

I know I felt that, but like the stubborn Israelite's, I refused to rest. I continued thinking I just needed to work harder - and I did. And do you know what happened? I went and fell backward, was injured and snared and captured. 

Religion only gets you so far. And most of the time it only makes you exhausted - or prideful. 

"So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.'" (28:16) 

This is our stumbling block. Here, Isaiah is prophesying the coming of Jesus - the precious, perfect cornerstone who is our sure foundation. Isaiah is leading up to the New Covenant that says we have only to trust in Christ and we are saved - not by works, memorization or religion - but through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. 

It is that relationship that changes your heart. It's not only believing in Christ, but knowing him personally that your life changes and your heart fills...and eventually, your heart overflows with the goodness and beauty of that relationship and you can't help but do good things, take in His Word and be moved by it. 

That's the beauty of relationship. 

Religion says, "I'm pretty decent, but I could be better - so I'll try harder and show you who I make myself into." 

Relationship says, "There is no good thing in me, but You are good and I trust you. I want to know you - change me, because I cannot change myself." 

"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." 

~ Jesus (via John 17:24-26)

Our Unchanging God.

     "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them up by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them..." Hosea 11:1-3 (NIV 1984)

     As I was reading Hosea this morning, my heart was broken. I realized the love of God. The passionate, endearing, unchanging love of God. I have always understood that I am a child of God, but I have never looked into what being a child of God actually looks like. And I think also as you grow up, you forget that you were a child in need of love and guidance (and still are).

     If you're not familiar with the Book of Hosea, here is a brief summary: Hosea, a prophet of God, is commanded by God to marry a prostitute named Gomer and have children with her. Gomer continually refuses her husbands love and commitment and consistently goes back to the brothel. Her faithful husband, at one point, even has to pay money to get her back. This was God's way of portraying to His people his own faithfulness: Israel continued to turn away and go to other gods, worshiping anything besides the Living God; but continually and consistently, God pursues his people - just as Hosea pursued Gomer.

     In this passage, God relates Israel to his child - as a Father relates to his son. Thinking back to being a child, do you recall learning to tie your shoe? Or throw a baseball? Or swim? Or ride a bike? Do you recall teaching yourself these things? Most likely not. More than likely you immediately remember the person that taught you do that - your mom, dad or big brother or sister. Maybe an aunt or grandparent.

     Here is God saying, "I taught you to ride a bike, I held you when you were learning to walk. And not only did I kiss your knee when you scraped it, I healed it completely." And yet, Israel rebels. We rebel. We walk around with our heads held high thinking we are doing this life completely on our own and we have it all under control.

     We so often forget the compassionate God who loves us as a Father loves his child. Who just wants us to be close to Him, follow Him and love Him - not because he's an insecure God who needs to be loved, but because He knows that in His arms we are safe, loved and cared for. Only in His arms. He knows that as long as we keep going back to the brothel, back to the worthless idols, we will find only emptiness. So he calls us out of it. He doesn't drag us, He doesn't bring us out - he simply calls us.

     And even when we don't come right away, God says, "But I am still your God, the God who saved you out of Egypt. I'm the only real God you've ever known. I'm the one and only God who delivers..." (Hos. 13:4, MSG)

     God is unchanging. He created everything we are bound with - yet He is not. Just because we may not believe that He is God, just because we may not follow Him does not mean He is not God. Just because you wander away and worship something else for a while, does not mean that He isn't still the Living and True God - YOUR God. He is still the saving, loving, awesome God that he was at the beginning. Our failures don't change Him, our actions don't change Him; our good works or bad works do not make him bigger or smaller than He has always been.

    He is GOD. El Shaddai - the Lord Almighty, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). He is not only a God to return to, as He is calling you, He is a God to stay with, to cling to. The only God to rely on and trust in.

     If you've forgotten who taught you to ride a bike, if you're forgotten who held your hand and walked you through those hard times - now is a good time to remember. It was Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who was there, is there and who always will be there. Why? Because He doesn't change and doesn't leave, even when we do.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them." Hebrews 13:8-9

   

     

   

An Unsure Beginning

I don't really even know how to start this post. I'm not really even sure where God has me going with this blog. All I know is, He wants me to start writing again.

God is amazing. God is everything. Yet we make Him so small. I make Him so small.

I have been writing Facebook notes for a while, and it's interesting to think that during the time I wrote the most frequently, I had the least amount of relationship with God. Sorry to disappoint you, but just because you say good things and have good thoughts doesn't mean you and God are tight. It just means He's choosing to work through you in spite of all your issues.

That was my case, anyway.

Over the last two years and a half years, God has done far more in me than I ever thought He needed to do - that should tell you right there that something was wrong. If you ever think you don't have any more to learn, be careful - God might just show you how incorrect you are.

Every day for me anymore is unsure. I am unsure how God will choose to work, how the day will end, or what conflict might happen. I am unsure of where He will take me and what He will choose to walk me through. But the one thing I do know, the one thing I am learning is this:

No matter what it is, no matter what He does, no matter what He allows, he is faithful to walk with me through it. He will not bring up anything that he isn't prepared to help me handle.

A friend of mine told me one time that when she is feeling insecure or struggling, she just reminds herself "God is good and He loves me."

I have found that as life goes on, day by monotonous day, we often forget that simple fact: God is good and He loves us.

So as I write, my hope is that we will all be reminded of this: That God is good and He loves us. He is faithful, He is sovereign, He is true and He is unchanging.

I hope that God works in you and encourages you with these writings.

And if like me you are unsure, that God will show you Who you can be sure in.