We are all religious, at least in some respect. We tend to think of 'religious' as going through a set of motions, without thinking too much, a routine if you will. Like when we brush our teeth. Or put our clothes on. This morning, I had something in my right hand, so I tried to put my coat on with my left arm first. Shouldn't be such a hard thing, but I swear I nearly fell over, as I lacked the coordination and muscle memory apparently. Try it sometime; if your daring try brushing your teeth with the other hands! Be careful you don't put your eye out! There is definitely something deeper going on with our common habits. We all have many of them.
The point is, we think of religious as doing something regularly, which for us Christians should be praying, attending church, reading our bibles, and living charitably. We use it to describe things that people do regularly, without fail, in a set pattern. He watches football religiously, meaning every Sunday, Monday and some Thursdays. It describes these regular habits. We might also say faithfully.
RELIGIOUS:
1
: relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity <a religious person><religious attitudes>
2
: of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances<joined a religious order>
3
I could only hope that describes me!
What makes it difficult for outsiders is that they do not understand the idiosyncrincies that we do, and they can't fathom why people from the same group ("Christian") would infight so much. Just the other day I was talking to a couple prospects, and they asked me how I thought my church had the right angle that no one else did. They were astounded when I answered "I'm not sure that we do, no more or less than many others who share our same basic beliefs." I was equally shocked by the question being posed in the first place, as if they had asked it many times and were prepared for me to give a canned answer. I guess I have failed almost entirely at having set answers to basic questions, but I just don't think that way.
If we are truly to be religious, by devoting ourselves to our God, then we should cultivate many healthy habits. Just as we would not dare leave the house without going through at least some of our normal routines (getting dressed, brushing teeth, etc...) and without some of our usual items (car keys, cell phone) we also should not leave the house until we have prayed, listened, read and reflected, nor should we leave the house without God's word, both in our memory and carried with us. If we do not drive our cars without having our license with us, why would we live our life without the adoption certificate we have as heirs to God's kingdom being present?
No comments:
Post a Comment