Why Religion can be dangerous for your health
When you think about it, the main criticism Jesus had for the religious leaders of his day centered around hypocrisy. To be a hypocrite implies you pretend to be something you are clearly not. The Pharisees of Jesus day would put on airs for others to see. They stressed the externals everyone sees but completely neglected the internals God would want them to possess. Jesus called them white washed tombs that looked good to people on the outside, but had dead men’s bones and everything unclean on the inside. They masqueraded as someone more holy than they really were. Not much has changed in many religious circles. Many religions exalt good works apart from having a heart to do them. They will stress how Agape Love is just an outward action and not a feeling. The sacrifices they make to conform to such legal standards make them very proud. If your heart for God does not go beyond the superficial, you will not make it into the kingdom of Heaven. If what you do is only for men to see, then their high opinion of you is your only reward. If you do good works out of compulsion for appearance sake only, then you are not doing them out of heart. You are a slave and not a son. You cannot placate a God who sees your heart with sacrifices. How can anyone really fulfill God’s law without loving Him first with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind? If any part of your heart is not in it you only fall short of this standard. Men may be impressed with your show but an omniscient God sees your heart. Reputation is what everybody thinks of you, character is what you really are. The only merit works have in the eyes of God are how they reveal your heart. For as a man thinks in his heart, so is He. A tree is always known by it’s fruit. Religious people don’t really practice what they preach. The only purpose of the Law was to reveal to men how they truly fall short of loving the way they should. God would rather transform you by renewing your mind through learning his way. He would rather take hold of your heart by getting you to know him. This is why knowing Christ always trumps being religious. The Bible says if your religion does not sanctify you from within and teach you to love, your religion is worthless.
Allow God to change your thinking and He will transform your heart.
The works God requires of us is to believe in God. Why is this so important? Because changing a person really requires changing the beliefs they hold on to. Everyone does what is right within their own eyes. Their own warped beliefs (or what the Bible calls iniquities) are what set a person’s real motives for doing things. If you set a person’s beliefs straight than everything else gets straightened out. For heart motives are what drive everyone’s words and actions. If a person has goodwill they will also have good actions. God credits the believer with righteousness because He knows that the righteous come to life by their faith. God knows that his ways are higher than our ways. If we really understood his ways as better, would we not choose the best alternatives to take to achieve what we want? If God can clean your heart motives up by changing your beliefs on the inside than He knows that all your words and actions will naturally follow. This is what Jesus meant when He said clean the inside of the cup first and then everything else becomes clean. Being righteous is more about who you are as a person than just what you do. We look at people who do good deeds and call them righteous. We say this because we perceive through their actions a heart motive that drives their deeds. We perceive the heart behind what they are doing. God knows our works and why we do what we do. He would have us possess heart for the good that we do. Otherwise, what real merit do they really have? What love do you really stir up? This is why the Bible says God loves a cheerful giver. Real Christians recognize their internal shortcomings and look to God to transform their mind. They know their righteousness and salvation is found by knowing Him and his ways. Biblical faith comes from hearing his word. Christ truly is the author and finisher of our faith. They rest on his promise to change their heart and make them new. They do not rest on their individual performance. They recognize unless a man be born of God, He cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven. If your religion keeps you from knowing Christ, then your religion cannot save you. In this sense, religion alone won’t cut it. When it comes to salvation, a person should count everything a loss that keeps them from the excellency of personally knowing Jesus Christ.
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