Am I religious?

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

a : scrupulously and conscientiously faithful

b : fervent, zealous

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? 

In 2013, I want to be more religious?!

It's true, in 2013 I want to be more religious. I want to make sure I pray every morning and evening. I have signed up a new mentor so we can hold each other accountable to read through the entire bible this year, with daily readings. I am sure I will got to church every Sunday without fail. I want to memorize prayers, commandments, creeds and scriptures. In this journey of faith, I am living religiously, worshiping liturgically, and seeking enthusiastically my Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier in a fresh new way. I am doing this by joining the historical church in their practices of worship and discipleship, very similar today to the way they were hundreds and even thousands of years ago.

It's taken a bit of humility on my part to get to this point; to be able to see the benefits to living this way, religiously that is. So much is said against religion, from both inside and outside of Christ's church. I read a few articles in 2012 ("its not religion it's relationship" for one)  that explored this topic, and I have not stopped thinking about it since. I can't understand how Christians could think that throwing other Christians under the bus would be somehow attractive to perspective Christians they are trying to woo into accepting Jesus. I have done far more than I would like to admit myself,  until I realized how exhausting it is to war against God. At several points in my life of faith, I have felt strangely similar to the apostle Paul, whom at his conversion was told to basically to quit warring against God and his church.

What began as a campaign by Jesus himself against the religious of his day who had lost the meaning of their religion as they focused more on going through the right motions has become fuel to pour on the fire of burning all things religious. What this ends up doing is breeding a rebellion in our hearts that very easily begins to transfer to God himself. We began to idolize rebellious zealots in the bible like the prophets, especially John the Baptist, and proceed to rip into all things religious as we grow more into their image than Jesus'. Then we go to Neodenominational churches and sing songs to Jesus, some of which even denounce religion. What? And tell people things like this:

Accepting Jesus Christ to the fullest extent means accepting his family, too. Guaranteed in every church in every time and style, they are both true believers and phonies. What happens to conversations as they deepen, when they are based on God not being God, and religion being a bad thing? They end, without making disciples, which is the great commission!  Shallow conversations, deep relation with worldly things and habits, when faced with deep study of the scriptures, these things expose themselves: "Friendship with the world is enmity with God."

God is God, the bible is his word, and I want to pursue him in such a variety of ways that when I travel anywhere, to anyplace of Christian worship that I will feel comfortable worshiping God whatever form it takes!