Friday, October 25, 2019

The difference between Religion & Christianity




Psalm 50:7-15

 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you.  I am God, your God.  Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.  I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.  For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.  “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.  Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

Many years have passed since I read the difference between religion and Christianity.  Religion is all about “do,” what can I do for God?  Christianity is all about “done,” what God has done for us, by sending His only Son Jesus Christ the Messiah to pay for our sins.  Jesus said as He was dying, it is finished, and what He meant was death was conquered, He had overcome the grave, for He rose and was seen by more than 5000, before departing earth to be at the right hand of His Father.  He defeated sin and paid our full price the Father required to have a relationship with Him.  Now the ball is in your court, will you accept the gift of Salvation and Redemption?

Are will you take the route of religion, do you understand that was what the nation of Israel was doing, and they were trying to earn God’s favor?  As a people, they were willing to do as commanded by Moses and give God an offering, but they were not ready to give Him themselves.  Many a person who goes by the title Christian has no plans to present himself or herself to God’s purpose for life on planet earth.  But if you want to have fellowship with the Father, you must desire a life of obedience to the Father, then you will fulfill the purposes that God had in mind when he made you.

My personal walk with the Lord had been a failure until I learned to tell God from my heart, I can’t live the Christ life, and I’ve come to understand only Jesus did it correctly.  Dear Jesus, you can do it all in and through me, so I give up and am submitting my desires and will to You.  I still have a long way to go, but I can do all things through Christ.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice

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