I am not Religious

Religion – Rules and Regulations to abide by to obtain a favourable afterlife
Faith – A Relationship with God and accepting what He has done for you

Religion and Faith are polar opposites. Religion stresses rules and regulations and that by following these directions you will be allowed into “Heaven.” Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is a gift from God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” True faith is not religious. Faith is believing in Christ Jesus, that He died on the cross, rose again three days later, and defeated death. Through this death and resurrection He offers us redemption.

Redemption – To buy back

Christ defeated all that holds us in bondage through His death and resurrection and offers us freedom. Redemption is to buy back what was lost. At the fall mankind legally handed over their rights to the devil, at the cross Jesus completely redeemed us or bought us back. Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” To be a “Christian” means that you have accepted this free gift that Christ offers and are therefore redeemed.

The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption. Many people think, due to the Greek Philosopher Plato’s views, that the Christian Hope is going to Heaven when we die. Plato’s views permeate Western thinking today and He has influenced your views whether you have read him or not. He viewed the physical as evil and Heaven as a place where we will go when we die to escape this evil world. Since the physical was seen as evil, Heaven was a place that was spiritual and therefore we would live in a disembodied state in a far away land called Heaven when we died. I may be making it sound more ridiculous than usual, but this is the view that many, many Christians hold about the afterlife.

The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption. To redeem is to buy back. Christ did not die on the cross and rise again to simply save our souls. He came to redeem us. 1 Peter 1:20 shows us that Christ was chosen before the creation of the world to redeem us. Obviously if He was chosen before the world was even created, the fact Adam and Eve sinned did not surprise God. God created mankind with choice, because without choice there can be no love. God created us to enter into a love relationship with Him, and to take away choice would thwart our very purpose for existence, and God would not do that. From the very beginning of time God had a plan to redeem what was lost, and His “Redemption Project” continues today.

We are living in a time that the prophets of the Old Testament longed for. They longed to receive the redemption Christ offers during their lifetime (It worked a little different for them, I will not get into that here, but redemption still works for them). We have been redeemed. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven.” God has given redeemed people power for this to happen when they believe and speak it. We are able to live the redeemed life right now, experiencing the reality of Heaven in our life right now, the prophets longed for that.

The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption. God’s “Redemption Project” reaches to the farthest parts of the cosmos. God’s plan is to redeem everything He created. Revelation 21 speaks of a New Heaven and a New Earth with the Holy City, The New Jerusalem, coming out of Heaven to the Earth. All that has been created will be redeemed and, instead of us escaping to Heaven, God will make His dwelling with men (Revelation 21:3). Heaven’s reality will completely and permanently invade the Earth. We will be living a “Heaven on Earth.” The Christian Hope is wrapped up in Redemption.

We are currently living at a time after Christ, but before the complete redemption of all of Heaven and Earth.Whatever we do in this life to “bring Heaven to Earth” will be beautified when this Redemption Project reaches its fulfillment. Matthew 10:42, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because He is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Whatever is done big or small that brings Heaven’s reality to earth will be rewarded, or beautified, or put in its proper place once we are on the new earth. I can only guess as to what that will look like.

Knowing the Christian Hope is vital to knowing why I am not religious. I cannot do anything in my own strength to be redeemed. Christ has done that for me. What many see in the Bible as rules and regulations, is actually a guide to help us not hurt ourselves. If you have a child you probably don’t want them to touch the hot element on the stove. You tell them, don’t touch this because it will hurt you. That is what God has done; He has given us an outline of how to live in Heaven’s Reality. He shows us how to experience Life abundantly and shows us what will burn us.

Jesus has taken God’s wrath on sin when He died on the cross. Sin is an issue that was taken care of on the cross by Jesus. However, whenever we do sin we allow death into our lives and get burned. Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of you mind.” Whenever you make a decision you are being transformed by it. Romans teaches us to transform our minds to Heaven’s reality so that we can experience life. We will be transformed from death to life when we renew our minds (change the way we think and therefore act, from what the world says to what God says). If we choose against God, we are choosing death and bringing that into our lives. The more we decide to go in a certain way, the more the muscles in our brains are trained to go this way, and the easier it will be to make the same decision next time. This isn’t Rules and Regulations to keep you from doing things, God gives you the free will to choose whatever you want. But you will reap the good/bad consequences of those choices.

Finally, a powerful truth to ponder, “You always act out of what you believe.” What you truly believe will always win out when enough pressure is applied to a situation. Your instincts, what you really believe, will show their real colours when pressured. People can say they believe this or that all they want, but whether they actually believe it or not is questionable. Your actions manifest or show what you believe. If you believe in God, His redemption, and what the Word of God says it will be seen clearly in your actions. If you meet someone who preaches one thing, but acts another, either he is a hypocrite or he is in the process of renewing his mind to God’s truth. Nobody is perfect and everybody is going to fail at times, but what you believe will show up in your actions, if you find yourself doing something that doesn’t match God’s truth, then you know where to renew your mind so that you can experience life in that area. That is how we represent Jesus, we look like Him. We will look more and more like Him the more we renew our minds to His truth.

To look like Him is to love. 1 John 4:20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” God is love, and the person who knows God will have so much love inside him that it will overflow everywhere he goes. This is how you know a person knows God.

Therefore, I am not Religious. I do not obey a set of rules and regulations to be able to go to heaven. I believe God and I believe in God. I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross and then defeated death by rising three days later. I believe that because I have been redeemed I have been put in right relationship with God Almighty. I love God for He first loved me. My actions show that I really believe this. Heaven comes to Earth in big and small ways in my life. I am renewing my mind to God’s truth because I want to experience the Life He offers. This is the Christian life I live. I am not religious, but I am faith filled in love with God.