Religion

I was reading a fellow blogger's post and it got me thinking about the term "religion".

Honestly, I hate the word. Particular in Western society, the word religion has connotations of rules, rote actions, and rites that don't really carry any real meaning. To most, Religion is something people often use as a weapon to beat the brows of people who disagree with their ideologies; it is people in suits knocking on your door; it is fire and brimstone; it is the right-wingers; it is judgement and condemnation.

And I just want to SCREAM that that's not what it's supposed to be about!! So many religions in this world do fit some or all of those things. Many Christians turn our faith into many of the those things.

I don't see my faith in Jesus as a religion. It's not a dead thing to me. My faith is LIFE! It is what brings joy and salvation to my life, and hopefully to the people around me.

My faith is Jesus is a RELATIONSHIP, first and foremost. It is about joyful abandon and reckless love. It is about diving headfirst into the depths of God's love. It is about a love so deep and wide that Jesus sacrificed his own perfect life that I might live with him for eternity, so that I might have hope that this life is not all there is, that I might have joy in this life while I am here (despite the difficulties) and that I might live and abundant life in the things that truly matter. It is about sacrificing my own desires and wishes that I might be more like Christ and live in a way that shows that He is the one in control of my life. It is about the grace of God that allows me to overcome my own sinfulness and the influence of evil in my life that I might come to know God even more.

After all, if God could create the entire Universe, from the largest galaxy to the smallest electron, then surely He knows much better what to do with my life than I do.