Religion

Below is the daily Bible reading I am doing for the West Side Church. Please feel free to follow along.

I have to apologize for not getting the Bible reading thoughts up yesterday. I had a really crazy and hectic day that started very early. I hope you all did the reading yourself :).

Today we begin the book of James (James 1). As I was reading it I remembered a quote I used in my sermon yesterday by Max Lucado found in his book When God Whispers Your Name on pg. 121: “Could it be that you went to religion and didn’t go to God? Could it be that you went to a church but never saw Christ?” A lot of times I hear people talking about different religions. Each time I hear that word used to describe followers of Christ, I hate it. Maybe I am getting caught in semantics, but I still hate it. Maybe that is because religion has been so watered down. Maybe that is because religion to me is just something you associate with. The faith Christ calls us to is a faith that alters and shapes our life, it is not something we associate with, it is who we are.

What is noble religion to God? “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” So if we are going to use the term religion, which is fine (just something I personally despise), how is your religion? Does it meet up with what God considers pure and faultless?

So instead of seeking out religion, maybe we should be seeking out God. If we seek out God, then pure and faultless religion will fall into place. If our desire is to serve God with our lives, then serving orphans and widows, as well as not being polluted by the world, is the life God has called us to live. So again I ask; how is your religion?