““What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.”
Matthew 23:25-26 NLT
Today my uncle passed away. He is the youngest brother to my dad and for the last couple of years he has been in a nursing home. When my dad called this morning I knew it wasn't good news because its Father's Day and it should have been me calling but I wasn't even awake yet. So I figured it was something else and of course it was. In the last few years I've watched my dad go to the nursing home and then come back sad and disheartened because he knew his brother was slipping away. I couldn't bring myself to go because I wanted to remember him as he was sitting on the porch telling stories with my dad. I didn't want to see him lost and confused.
He was the youngest son. Kind of the black sheep and to me he always seemed a little lost and that made me sad and always extra grateful to see him and get to hug him a little tighter. He was single when he passed and had no children. Just a bunch of siblings and nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. I think that's why I worried most about his relationship.
You see we grew up in the South and as most people from the south or around the south we know about Jesus. We grew up in religion. It didn't matter what religion you actively or inactively participated in, if you were from the south you likely called yourself a Christian. Just because we knew about religion. Always in church and always hearing about religion. Over the years I believe this is why so many have come to think of Christians as judgmental and holier than thou. We thought if you weren't actively involved in the rules and regulations of whatever religion you were a part of then you weren't as good as us.
Churches were so segregated - not just racially but by religion. If you weren't Catholic or Baptist or Pentecostal or Church of Christ or whatever you believed because of your background then you were judged by other denominations as less holy or religions. I lived it, I practiced it and then I started to look a little deeper. I started to really look at the difference between religion - how we practice what we believe, and relationship - how we lived what we believe.
You see I believe that religion isn't nearly as important as relationship. That's why were created after all. To be in relationship with God. He wanted us to be a part of His creation and to walk with Him and talk with Him in the garden. I began to see that Jesus was far more interested in our hearts than the rules of the religion that we practiced. He was far more interested in my heart and my talking and walking with Him than what church I attended and what Bible translation I was reading.
When you really look at the life of Jesus you will see that He was more interested in the brokenness of mankind than the religious laws that man had put in place. He came to build relationship. He wants us to long to be in His presence. To seek out His word and His love and His presence more than making sure we are following the laws of some religion.
Churches are awesome. They allow us to come together and jointly reach out to others. To share a heart for Jesus. But no church is perfect. No religion is perfect. No person is perfect. Only when we recognize that, will we start to recognize the need for relationship. Because we can't reach out to anyone in love unless we first learn what real love is. And I know that I can't know what real love is unless I go to the source. The Savior who willingly laid down His life so mine could be changed. He loved everyone - and everyone who came in contact with Him walked away changed. He is the change that we need. His love is the only love.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave3:16 Or For God loved the world so much that he gave. his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17 NLT
But to know that love and to find that change we have to build the relationship. I know my uncle knew about Jesus. But it breaks my heart to say that I really don't know if he knew Jesus. I don't know what his relationship with the Savior was and I'm ashamed that I didn't take the time to truly build a relationship where I could ask the question and find the answer.
Our heavenly Father is the perfect example of a relationship builder. He wanted it so bad that He willingly let us choose sin and then freely gave His Son to redeem us and then went further to send the Holy Spirit to walk with us and teach us what relationship should really be.
I don't know what your relationship with your father is like and that may cloud your view of God. But if you know about Jesus then I would pray that you would ask the Father above to show you how to desire a relationship with Jesus. The kind of relationship where you can bare all the hurts and broken pieces of your soul and know that you won't be judged but you will be loved.
Jesus longs for us to know Him so intimately that we tell Him and share with Him the things that we would never dream of telling anyone else. To truly know Jesus all you have to do is seek Him. He doesn't run and hide from you. He is waiting in the pages of the Bible, in the quiet of the night, in the beauty of a flower and the majesty of a mountain. Jesus is right there just waiting on you to seek Him. And when you do He will walk into your life and start the change that only He can.
So I ask you today. Do you have religion or do you have a relationship with the God who loves you and knows you best? If you just have religion I pray that you will find relationship.
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