Do You Have Religion Or Faith?
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can’t be a friend of God. -- James 4:4
Who is Jesus to you? Don’t give me the Bible answer. Tell me who He is to you and what He means in your everyday life. Do you call Him friend? Brother? Savior? Is your relationship with Him up close and personal or is He just some famous person you read about and hear about every now and then?
Think about your answer before you give it because the answer is important. It’s the difference between having religion and having faith. Reading about someone and hearing about them doesn’t mean you have a relationship with them. Seriously. Relationship is face to face, friend to friend, person to Savior. It makes all the difference.
The thing is many of us truly think we’re believers. Maybe we are. But we’re so busy keeping one foot in the world that we don’t realize the other foot is on a very slippery slope. Falling away from God rarely happens in just one moment with just one action. It’s a slow slide to a place we never intended to go.
The hard truth is that we can’t serve God and be part of the world. We can’t. Yeah. We live in the world, but we can’t be part of it. We are separate. Set aside by God for His purposes. The world that embraces Satan doesn’t serve God. The two simply can’t mix.
We are so sure of ourselves, confident that we won’t slide. That we can make it work. We don’t see that the choices we make each day lead us away from the God we love.
Before you decide I don’t know what I’m talking about, think about your own actions. Have you ever watched a movie and thought, just for a moment, that maybe it had a little too much profanity or a little too much sexual content or was a little too violent? Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t something one of God’s children should be watching and, by that action, encouraging supporting financially.
Or maybe you prefer music about cheating spouses. Or books about illicit sex or murderous rampages. Maybe you enjoy hanging out in a bar just to hear the music. Or you have lunch with colleagues who spend their hour gossiping about everyone they know.
Choices. We make them each and every day. Do your choices reflect your relationship with Jesus? Are you living your life as though He’s your very best friend and He’s standing right beside you? Or are you living your life claiming to serve Him but unwilling to give up the charms of this world?
It’s the difference between religion and faith. Talking the talk or walking the walk, as the cliché goes. You decide. Because, really, you can’t do both.
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