If you have ever said these words: “I am not a religious person,” what does that mean to you?
It is true that there are some “religious” people who are the very dregs of the human race. They ridicule, persecute, kill, maim, mock and try to destroy anyone who does not believe as they do.
Perhaps the worst kinds of evils have originated from the many forms of organized religion. Such organizations forget that their true mission is to glorify God. Instead they are intent only on protecting their organization and their power over people.
What does the word glorify mean to you? To me that word signifies all that I enjoy and love. For many people that just ain't God. Most people like to glorify themselves. We all like to be well thought of, to be applauded for our cleverness, beauty, strength or good deeds. We glorify ourselves, sports, movie stars, cars and endless other material things. Some people shy away from those who love to glorify God. Why is this?
What makes God seem so distant, so unapproachable or even non-existent, unworthy of our time, our affection and our worship?
What did God ever do to alienate so many people?
Some people think that He is still mad at us because of our rebellion against Him. That is so wrong. He took care of that rebellion long ago by sending His beloved Son to absorb our sins. Out of the deepest love for us, He sent His son to divert His just wrath for every sin that has ever been committed or will ever be committed by any human person.
We are now righteous in God’s sight if we have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Christ of His own free will took up our sins. He was not forced to do this. He chose to save us because we are incapable of saving ourselves. Being righteous in the sight of God does not mean we always act right. It just means that by accepting Christ, God now sees us through the righteousness of Christ.
Once we accept that we need a Savior, we are saved. Now we have been given as a free gift, the power to live like a disciple of Christ should live, like a saved person will live. There is no need to carry a load of guilt around with us. We can be joyful, confident and loving because we have been loved by God.
It is fantastic that God wants to have a loving relationship with us. God reached out to us in our sins. He does not wait for us to be perfect before we can approach Him. We don’t have to try to wait for the day when our good deeds will outweigh our bad deeds.
That is why people get so discouraged because they know that in their own strength (Being their own savior) they will never be good enough.
In this is love, not that we have loved God first but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Propitiation refers to the removal of God’s just wrath by providing a substitute. This sub, Jesus Christ, does not just cancel the wrath, He absorbs it and diverts it from us to Himself. He has, in love declared that each of us is “NOT GUILTY!”
What a gift! When we realize this gift, we have been given the power to glorify God each and every day by our actions in Christ. That is what is meant by the true meaning of religious. Try it! You might like it.