GLEANINGS — August 11, A.D. 2013                                                                                                               "I Don't Have a Religion...
I Have a Relationship!"

This is a motto which many who love the Lord love to use. It is reactionary, and rightly so, against that "form of godliness which denies the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:5). In other words, the saying despises, and rightly so, that which is called Christianity but which actually substitutes the traditions of men for the infallible counsel of God in Scripture, settles for formalistic ritual instead of vital worship in the Holy Spirit, and in which the daily walk of faith is replaced by dependence on the arm of flesh.

Moreover, that walk of faith is something unique to the covenant people of the one true God. Although the world speaks of "other faiths," they are usurping a term used in the Bible to identify God's gift to His sheep. Per Ephesians 4:5, there is but ONE faith. There are no doubt hordes of man-made religions which are devoid of that one true faith. Such religions are rightly disdained, and those caught up in them are to be called to repentance and faith in Jesus, with Scriptural love and wisdom.

So our title motto does well by warning us away from pitfalls, and in distinguishing genuine Christian discipleship from false belief systems and the things done by their adherents. 

But, to use another motto made famous by the movie Apollo 13, "Houston, we have a problem."*

Scripture certainly decries false, vain, and hypocritical religion. Yet by the Holy Spirit's inspiration the apostle James affirms the place of good religion within the life of faith. He wrote, 

"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 trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." (James 1:26,27) 

In Luke 2:25, Simeon is described using the original language word EULABES, translated "devout" (religious), and the same word is applied to the men who buried the martyr Stephen, Acts 8:2.

Perhaps a better motto would be, "I have a relationship AND a religion." That is, because I am vitally connected to Jesus the true vine, because I am united to Christ (and to His people) consciously and personally according to the new and better covenant in His blood, because His blessed Spirit indwells me – THEREFORE my life is one of true Christian love, not man made substitutes for love; that is, a life lived according to Biblical ethics, evidencing spiritual discipline and obedience: "religion."

So you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Let it be seen by your pure and undefiled RELIGION.

* The movie slightly edited the exchange between astronauts John Swigert, Jr., James Lovell, and their base in  Houston Texas. The actual diaog was:

SWIGERT – "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here."
HOUSTON –  "This is Houston. Say again please."
LOVELL – "Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt."