See, religion and Jesus are at odds, religion is all about rules, and you have to change yourself to fit into those rules. Religion will not change you or set you free, instead it is more like a burden, it is rules and restrictions that you feel obligated to follow in order to fit into the status quo of what is expected of you by other members of your church. It is more about you and what you are or are not doing. Religion is an emotional prison that will keep you focused on works, guilt and typically selfish pride of 'look what I am doing' or 'look what titled I've earned in the church'. All of this can be verified by reading about the Pharisees in the Bible, looking at the world around us and the hardest one to do looking within at our own selves.
I have been under the burden of religion, and now I am set free in Christ Jesus, but if what I described about religion reflects more of the relationship you have with Jesus than this next part does, I invite you to let go of what you are still holding onto in your heart and give it to God. Serving God is about His love for us not our obligation to Him. The Bible talks about the transforming effect that God can have on a person in Ezekiel 36:26 we see His promise of that, where God says through a prophet that He will take out the heart of stone and replace it with one of flesh. But this can only happen when we surrender to Him and allow God to work on us from the inside of us, not through religious rituals.
Jesus has, can and does change us from within. If you have Jesus in your heart, you don't do the right thing or follow the rules because you have to, you do it because you want to. You do it because you have a relationship with the Pure and Holy God of heaven, your Creator, and your love for Him drives you to please Him. With a personal relationship with God you are seeking Him out daily and applying the lessons from the Bible to your life, not because a church told you this is how to get to heaven, but because it's what pleases the God you love, serve and are coming to know through His word. With Jesus in your heart, keeping God's laws is a pleasure and an easy burden to bare. It doesn't mean you won't still mess up, we are after all still human and imperfect, but with Christ we don't have to feel guilty when we do, we just give it to Him and ask for His help to do better.With God in you, changing you through His refining process there is sill pain, and there is still confusion and struggle, but there is also a joy and peace that comes from being in His will and having a relationship with Him.
When I was still under the burden of religion, I would say I had a relationship with Jesus, and truly in my heart I believed it because I was doing all the things the church told me I should do as a Christian. I did the volunteering and work days, I did the bake sales, taught Sunday school classes, and I served as a deacon, but my heart was rarely ever in any of it, it was all obligation that I did because that's what good Christian woman should do. But the reality of it is I was serving the church and my pride to appear as what I wanted to be, I wanted to be a good Christian woman and this was how the church told me to do it, so I did. I'm not saying that these things are bad, if God has led you to do these things then by all means have at them, but know that this is not necessarily the only way to serve God and that if Jesus is not the center of your heart while you are doing it, you aren't serving God anyway.
None of that stuff ever left me feeling closer to God or fulfilled in any way, but reading His word does, implementing the things He said does, learning to understand His parables, and His words and how they are still true and applicable today, that helps bring me closer to God (Joshua 1:8). Praying everyday, multiple times a day (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), seeking out and talking to others who are sold out for Jesus, those things all help to make me feel closer to God. Obeying God (Luke 11:28, Acts 5:29), being loving and compassionate towards others, helping those in need, encouraging others (John 13:34-35, 1 Peter 4:9), teaching others what I have learned about God and sharing God's word(Matthew 28:16-20), all this helps me to feel closer to Jesus. Including Him in all my thoughts and actions during the day is another way I feel closer to God (Colossians 3:17, 1 Corithinians10:31) and all of this approach is based on Biblical truth, not doctrines made up by others, but what's found in His word.
I pray that today if you read this and are under the trap of religion you take time to really examine what you are doing and why. Take time to examine the scriptures and see if you are building a relationship with Jesus, or just following a religion. Be blessed.
Psalms 119:9-16
How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
Praise be to you, Lord;
teach me your decrees.
With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
Ezekiel 36:24-28
“ ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
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