The One on Religion vs Relationship

Have you ever driven down the road and saw a billboard of something you love that you would love to taste, wear, or experience? I'm going to use "Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers" as an example because my daughter absolutely LOVES their chicken. If you drive by a billboard showing this delectable chicken, especially if you know what it really tastes like, you want it. You just gotta have some of that chicken. If you only look at the billboard with drool dripping all over your face, you are not really experiencing the chicken as it was meant to be experienced. It will not satisfy your hunger. You will not be experiencing the real thing and you will not truly know what it's like. God works the same way. He doesn't want you to simply look at a picture on a sign or read words here and there, He wants you to truly experience Him in a personal relationship.

When you accept Jesus, you are His. You belong to His family. You are a part of His eternal kingdom. When you personally know and accept that Jesus died for your sins, a transition begins in your soul. The Holy Spirit is invited into your life and resides in you bringing much needed guidance as we journey through life on Earth. We begin to follow God's lead instead of our own. That's what God wants. A close, personal, one-on-one relationship with him, not a religion themed billboard. He wants a real and true connection within our souls.

Luke 8:43-48 tells us about a woman who was bleeding for 12 years - she was immediately healed when she touched the fringe of Jesus' robe. She had faith in Jesus, a healing power swept through Him, and she had a very real experience with Him through that faith.

I can't tell you how many times I've been baptized. Every time I sinned or messed up, I thought I had to start over with God. Here's the thing, when you belong to God, you belong. I just need to confess my sins to Jesus, accept that He died on the cross for them, ask for forgiveness and move forward. Hopefully I learn from mistakes in the process and grow deeper and further in God. God knows we are human and will make mistakes, that's part of the deal. When we do, we don't have to start all over, we just keep moving forward. If you get a flat tire, you change the tire and keep driving. You don't get a whole new car and begin again. (If you do, I'm not judging you - though I may want to know how you afford it.)

There are times when we get lulled asleep by the world around us and God has to shake us up a bit to wake us up again. This happens to me and I'm the first to admit it. From time to time I need a jumpstart from God. There are so many distractions around us, it can be easy to slip into complacency. Just like a phone, computer or any electronic device we may be using at the time, sometimes a restart reconnects all the talking parts. Sometimes we need to stop, realize what we are doing in life, and reset the connection we have with God to make sure it's properly hardwired into Him.

Let's take a look at Peter. Peter is one of my favorites because he always wants to be "all in" with Jesus. In Luke 22:61-62 Peter realizes he denied Jesus. "At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind: 'Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.' And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly."

Peter was with Jesus 3 years - side by side with Him. Yet when confronted, he still managed to deny Jesus 3 times. He even had set it in his heart and mind to not do so when Jesus outright told him this would happen. The realization of what he had done crushed him. He truly loved Jesus. Peter stayed within a close distance of Jesus even after his denials. Peter knew he couldn't undo what he had done but he also knew his only hope was to stick by Jesus.

When Jesus returned to the disciples after the crucifixion, Peter was so excited to see Him again that he jumped into the water to get to the shore where Jesus was faster. I love that Peter always has such enthusiasm. Jesus had made them breakfast on the shore. Jesus did not condemn Peter, tell him he messed up and would have to start all over, or be baptized for the 28th time. Jesus knew Peter's heart because they had a real relationship. Jesus made him breakfast and commissioned him to spread the message of Jesus and make disciples. Peter, a broken sinner, was forgiven and called to spread the Word of God. (John 21)

The thing is we are all sinners. It's what we do with it that makes the difference. Ephesians 2:3-7 says "All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we are subject to God's anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!) for He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus."

And 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 says "For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorry, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right."

True acceptance of Jesus and His gift of salvation leads to repeated repentance. I say repeated because we all mess up and we will still throughout life. This is why I love Peter so much. He wore his heart on his sleeve during his transparent vulnerability. He messed up just like we do from day to day and was honest about it. He also expressed true repentance. Repentance is acknowledging the sins in your life and turning from those sins with the strength of the Holy Spirit and the community of people God has placed around you to rally you on. Repentance leads to change and change leads to action. Remorse can often be confused with true repentance. Remorse is dwelling on the consequences of our sins. Remorse leads to self-pity while you sit in the emotion of shame. Jesus took our shame with Him on the cross. We don't have to sit in shame. We are free. Nothing we do will ever surprise God and regardless of anything we do, He could never love us more or less than He does.

Proverbs 28:13 says "People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy."

I love how A.W. Tozer says "As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved all at once."

As God is made continuously bigger in our lives, our problems seem smaller. We find God in our brokenness. When we finally get to that place of "I just can't do this any longer God." God can then start to move in our lives as we hand all of our sins and struggles in life over to Him. I struggle with insecurity pretty much daily. I am convinced I will always and forever feel like I'll never measure up or be good enough. I know God says otherwise, I even believe it in my heart wholeheartedly. Still, this is the one thing the enemy attacks me with the most. It is my weak-spot. The deeper I dive into God and the more I grow with Him, this weakness does indeed seem to be getting smaller - but it is still present. It is still a part of me. Moving out of the kiddie pool and into the ocean of all God has certainly made a huge difference in my ability to see the enemy targeting me with these thoughts - but I still battle. We are in a war and we each have things in us the enemy tries to use against us to pull us down and defeat us. He tries to get us alone with our thoughts to keep us trapped and make us feel isolated and worthless.

I also struggle with the past and some of the decisions I've made and things I've done and more so the things I was unable to do when I should have. These are things I will be broken about until I reach Heaven I'm quite sure. I've been hurt by people and I've hurt people I care about. It's hard for me to trust - even myself - and knock the bricks down to let people into my life. This is something God has been working heavy on me over the last year especially. God has prompted me to share more and be more open and I'm being obedient as He directs me. It's not comfortable or familiar - I'll tell you that for sure! Regardless, I'm slowly opening up and letting people in. Weirdly, doing this is bringing healing, freedom, comfort, strength and more compassion for others into my soul as I do. I wouldn't have expected that. Funny how God works.

I can't be the only one who has these types of struggles. Talking about these things with each other brings forth freedom from the chain. It brings our struggles to light and stomps out the enemy's hold. It brings encouragement and strength to get through when we are being targeted harder than usual. We need each other. We need our communities - this is what we were designed for.

The broken spots in our soul are the exact places God wants to meet us with and through each other. These are the very places God will use to help reach others and do what we are all called to do - make disciples throughout the nations.

I'm finding as I open up more and become more transparent and vulnerable with the community of people I trust that God has placed around me, the deeper God is bringing me into His ocean and the closer my relationship with God is getting. What God is showing me is how much spiritual growth happens when we get real - with God, ourselves, and each other.