I don’t think a religious person can ever live an authentic life because his religious mind is always disconnected from his true heart. The true human heart is wicked. There is sin, greed, lust, envy and everything bad under the sun. All human beings, provided the right circumstances are capable of doing any sin in the world. That’s a scary thought. So, people suppress that truth with a religious mask. But the point they miss is that the religion cannot bring a bit of change to the human heart.
That’s is the reason while the religion kept talking about the external mask, Jesus went under the skin and said, adultery is a matter of heart and murder is a matter of heart and it scared them.
So, why people still hesitate to move away from religion and go into a relationship with their Creator who addresses the heart issue?
In every relationship, there is a certain level of unpredictability and I think it is true in a relationship with God as well. As humans, we hate unpredictability. We don’t want to risk anything to be in an unpredictable relationship especially if the other party is ‘unseen’. So we try to find a substitute for it – religion, where everything is predictable. We build a relationship with religion. There is no risk and we always ‘feel’ safe! They say, you just come to our church, fill out our membership form, get baptized by our minister in our water in our baptistery, pay tithe to us and submit to our authority, you are all good and at the end we will give you a grand funeral to send you to heaven! Do you see any element of risk or unpredictability anywhere in that picture?
Also, I think in every relationship, there is hurt and pain and it is true in a relationship with God as well. There are moments where we feel God is not listening and we hate such moments. Religion, however, provides a (false) sense of security which does not require risking our heart. But what is interesting is, God risked certain things when He decided to have children. Are we ready to risk something to have a relationship with that Dad? Knowing that there are going to be unpredictable moments, pain, silence, disciplining, and wilderness?
If everything in life is predictable, safe and risk-free, what is the thrill? How do we know what is under the deep waters unless we dive in?
Isn’t it enough living a suppressed life which is not ours? Can we step out of our religious boat into the Sea of Galilee (Grace) like Apostle Peter, ready to explore little bit of adventure? Hey, it is true that he wavered after sometime. We may face winds, we may run of out of oxygen but look, "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him."! Peter took a risk and tasted some thrill and more importantly he experienced the strength of Lord's hand. Though he doubted, Lord was still there!
If we are to ask Peter, he would say, it is a great adventure to experience Him, He is pretty strong!
Yes, He is pretty strong. He provides us one ultimate guarantee which no man-made system can ever give us – He will bring us to safety at the end… In the meantime, if we are willing to get out of the religious safe-zone, we can experience some wild adventures!
2 comments:
Bino! Wow, this post touched the deepest parts of my soul! I am shocked! I have just been through some pretty 'real' and hard moments with some friends! I won't go into detail, but what I can share is that this post has really brought to light that being real and authentic also can look very ugly at times...
You said, "The true human heart is wicked. There is sin, greed, lust, envy and everything bad under the sun."
I have just experienced this side of authentic ness. The sins and ugliness is nothing to be proud of, but it was shown out of a heart that just wanted to be real, and out of this, came an ugly side to it! I guess I could say that I was not being fake, but with that came some ugliness too!
I know what you mean about the religious mask! I see it all around me, and lots of people I know have a mask! I used to have one myself, until I saw no point in flaunting it anymore. It is so true though, this mask can and will hide every real and true part of a person, good or bad.
This mask that you talk about seems so familiar to me and I know for me I used to wear it out of fear, to hide who I truly was in order to either look ‘better’ to some, or hide what I really thought or felt! Reality check; I just experienced this fear face to face and it is scary to be so bold as to be real and authentic. But you know, I am learning now that what really matters aren’t what ‘people’ think, but what God thinks! It is Him who really cares about how real we are and really understands who we are regardless our mistakes, our sins, and flaws.
I am done trying to be a predictable Christian! Was Christ really that predictable? I think he accomplished and pulled some pretty unpredictable moves. I like that, it is spontaneous and exciting and I want to be more like Him.
I like this, “But the point they miss is that the religion cannot bring a bit of change to the human heart.”
It’s so true, nothing can or will change the heart. Only Father can make change, who is so desperately wanting to get inside our heart and know it, even if He already does, but not everyone knows that Father wants this, His desire is for us, and our human authentic hearts, whatever may be in them…
I love this Bino! You have no idea how this post has touched my life! I love it!
Bless you Brother!
In Freedom, Nicole!
Nicole, I am glad it helped.
I lived a life of somebody else for many years in fear and oppression. It required a lot of acting, appearing, striving, strain to live such a life. God is knocking all those off from me now. It's not that I am fully transparent now but at least I am not afraid to be just me. God is not done with me, still working in me and I know that. I think religion was formed on the foundation of fear and the people who are religious can never be perfected in the love of Jesus. He is the only consistency a person can have.
I have no consistency in me. One day I am the most loving person in the world, the next day I am the worst ever born, hard hearted, irritable and unloving. That is the reason I need Jesus. He is the only constant in my life.
If everything in life is smooth and well, believe me, we all will forget the Lord in a New York minute. No wonder Paul said, he will boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses so that Christ's love can be perfected in him. Life taught me what Paul meant by that!
I am sorry that you have problems but believe me its not at all unusual. I had moments in my life where I even doubted the existence of God! 99% of time I am not walking by faith (I mean truly walking by faith ONLY in Jesus). Should I sit around and doubt my salvation? NO! Look what Jesus did to Peter when he doubted: He reached out and took His hands! That gives me hope! It is His faithfulnesses alone what is going to bring me to the other end. I have nothing to boast about my strength, faith, devotion or anything. Since He is faithful, we have hope, Nicole. If not, we have no hope at all!
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