Religion vs. Relationship

One of the things that someone will hear Christians say is that Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship.

What does that mean?

What people usually mean is:

• Religion is a system of rules that people need to follow, in order to be OK with God.
• Christianity frees people from following those rules, because Jesus died for us. In effect, Jesus has fulfilled the rules for us.

Does this mean God is no longer concerned about our behavior? We don’t need to go to church? Pay tithes? Read the Bible?

I have written fairly frequently about my conception of God designing his creation, so people naturally live lovingly, joyfully, and peacefully. And when mankind chose independence from God, the world broke. Now, we need to choose to move back into dependence on God, into relationship, and living out God’s design. So, in a very real way, we need to re-learn how to live.

The religion\relationship question flows along two paths. On one path, we observe from the passage of Scripture, that says, since God’s Spirit makes his home in your heart, there are certain fruits, or results, that grow out of a person’s life. If these fruits are the results of God’s Spirit, then they are characteristics of God. And one of those fruits is discipline. So, God is not against making choices that produce things consistently, to build good habits, and life patterns.

It is good to meet with others in God’s family for mutual encouragement. It is good to be regularly renewed, and reminded, by God’s values, intentions, and priorities. It is good to give. Love is giving. It is good to release things that can controls, other than God’s Spirit.

The other path happens when we see that discipline is good, so everybody needs to be disciplined … in the same way. Many have written, and taught, about disciples that helped them. And there is a natural tendency to think, it works for me, it should work for everybody else. Well, it probably would work for lots of people, but probably not everybody. One size does not fit all.

So, we need to choose our disciplines wisely. Including when to abandon one for another. Including an alert, and receptive, heart. Including a practice of listening to God.

Scripture show God as a communicator. And Scripture shows God as immutable. Meaning he does not change. Meaning, if he was a communicator, he still is a communicator. So, we need to listen.

Scripture uses the analogy of family to give a picture of what the relationships with God, and other believers, should be like. Not that we don’t know dysfunctional families, that no one should belong to. Not that we don’t know dysfunctional churches, that no one should belong to.

We need to re-create our picture of what this relationship looks like. Father intends that this relationship should look like the ideal parent-child relationship. There are formal occasions: weddings, Christmas dinner. There are informal occasions: playing catch, getting ice cream, helping with homework.

Maybe the difference between religion, and relationship, is the realization that Father gives, moment by moment, attention, involvement, and communication. And we need to learn to be moment by moment with him.