The Isaiah passage which Jesus quotes shows that the purpose of the law is relationship with God, to get more of God, to get near to God, to please him, to imitate Him, to connect with Him.
All to often man made religion gets in the way. When religion becomes an end in itself it strangles our worship, our relationship with God. When religious practices deepens your love and connection to God it’s good. When we use it to prove ourselves as good and moral people, it’s terrible. It strangles us and those around us.
Are you learning to love God with all your heart mind sould and strength? Are you growing in your love and service of others, loving others as Christ loved you? (John 13:34). It so your religious practices are wonderful things. If not, it’s time revaluate either your religious practices or your practice of your religious practices.
Last week, I went with a friend to her church as part of her birthday present. During the sermon, Pastor Dave challenged his congregation to get out of their church ruts and reach out to the unsaved in the area. He said he wanted them to prayerfully consider how it could be done and get back to him the following week. He suggested that their goal should be to outnumber the new physical births with spiritual rebirths - now THAT's a goal to consider.
ReplyDeleteIf our congregation (and I mean everyone of us, not just a few) could reach out to others with love and purpose and vigor, the routine would leave our worship and Jesus would become more alive and vibrant to everyone. Our relationships with the Lord would grow deeper than ever before and that would truly put NLPC/CLC right in the heart of God's kingdom! Oh how wonderful would that be???
- SJ Anderson
a personal question for us all:
ReplyDeleteIf I take 'church' out of the quotient, what would my relationship look like with God?
So often 'church' can easily become nothing more than a venue to keep us from becoming personal with God. We have 'to do lists' and 'don't do lists', ways to guage our authenticity, but Jesus is looking at our hearts. Are we kind? Are we patient? Are we humble? Are we forgiving? Are we generous? Are we honest? Can we hear God whisper to us, as He whispered to Elijah?
God has called us to a journey of love because that is who He is, but I am finding that it is not as easy as it sounds, it involves things that take cultivation and committment, and doesn't depend on what I 'do' but what I am....