Relationship not Religion

It’s A Relationship

There is an excellent page on Facebook called “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship with Jesus Christ”. Now, while many Christians realise the truth of this, many millions more really don’t have a clue. Sadly this is particularly true of the old denominations like the Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, and Episcopalians. Please hear my heart here, I am not criticising nor judging anyone nor any denomination. It is simply true that whilst many of their number do have a relationship with Jesus, yet many more of them don’t have such a relationship.

The idea of having a relationship with Jesus is quite alien to them. They have never experienced Him on a personal level. Some simply don’t want to. Some don’t believe it is possible. Some, sadly, have never been taught that it is possible. I can hear some of you asking if their salvation is even real? I don’t know and I am not going to hazard a guess on it either.

So what does “a relationship” mean in this context. Actually, it means exactly the same as any other relationship with a close family member or friend. It was at Calvary that everything was established for us to have this relationship. The Bible tells us that the veil in the temple was torn in two. The veil was what stood between God and men and under the Law, it was only the High Priest who was allowed access beyond the veil, and even he had a rope tied to him in case he died in God’s presence. The rope was to pull him back out again as no-one else dared cross the veil into God’s presence. The veil was torn so that we might have free access to the very throne room of God – that we can talk with Him whenever we like – just as we do with our earthly father, or brother, or close friend. The veil was torn so that the barrier between us was removed and so that we can now go directly into His presence.

So it is that we can have a relationship with our heavenly Father. We can talk to Him and listen to Him as well. A conversation is always two-way otherwise it is a monologue. God even gave us His ‘phone number’ in Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” What a wonderful promise, yet it implies that we have to listen or we will not get many answers correctly.

We all need that intimacy of a relationship with Jesus. We all need to realise that He wants us to treat Him as a father not as a remote God. We all need the experience of actually meeting with Jesus in our everyday lives. There is such joy in communion with Him at this personal level. We don’t have that joy when we miss out on a personal relationship with Him.

If you are willing, God is waiting for you to get up close and personal with Him today. He is always willing and welcoming. The choice is ours to make – God has already decided that you are worth getting close to. Have you yet decided if He is worth the same thing? Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”