This past month we saw the death of several very famous people.  We call them celebrities.  Some were very respected and some were simply pop-culture icons.  The rich and famous were present at their public funerals; and in their comments, we would hear, "he or she was religious" or "he or she was very spiritual."  There are many people today who are "religious."  They attend church and do religious things but do not have a personal relationship with Jesus.  What is the difference between being simply "religious" and truly knowing Jesus?

Religion focuses on what we do.  It concentrates on tradition, ritual and ceremony.  It includes attending church services, perhaps even being baptized and taking communion and giving to the poor.  Like the Pharisees in the New Testament, religion is centered on external things.  Jesus chastised them saying: "woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  You blind Pharisees!  First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean (Matt 23:25-26, ESV).  It is easy to practice religion but not let God change our hearts.

Religion is more interested in what people think about us than what God thinks about us.  Jesus said that the Pharisees "do all their deeds to be seen by others.  For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others" (Matthew 23:5-7).  Religious people are more interested in looking holy than they were in being holy.  They are more interested in receiving peoples' admiration and praise than in pleasing God.

If all we are doing is practicing religion, we are deceiving ourselves.  The Bible warns us "if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself (Galatians 6:3).  We are told to "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves" (2 Corinthians 13:5).  We go to the doctor to get a physical checkup from time to time.  The Bible teaches we should also do a spiritual checkup on ourselves.  We are to check and see if we are really growing in Jesus and his power.

Jesus is someone to know and to trust.  True faith is not just doing religious things and keeping rules.  True faith is knowing  Jesus personally.  Jesus told us that He is the way to God, He is the real truth, He is real life (John 14:7).  He told Nicodemus "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).  True faith is believing in Jesus and "whoever believes in hm is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:18).  Jesus knows our needs, he feels our pain; he understands our weaknesses.  He and He alone offers to forgive our sins and change our lives.  We are told to "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31).  All we have to do is ask Him to come into our lives, forgive our sins, and change our life.

Are you trusing in religion to get you into heaven or are you trusting Jesus?  Religion can't get us there but Jesus can.

Learn more about Good Shepherd Evangelical Church online: www.gsevc.org