ICS Daily Devotions
Is Christianity a Religion or a Relationship
Galatians 5:22 (NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love….
The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the church of Galatia to address the false teachings by the Judaizers which advocated that Gentiles had to be circumcised and thus leading back to the work of the law for salvation. The Apostle Paul confronted the Apostle Peter for being a hypocrite as Peter did not address this critical issue while he was there. It is dangerous if the church were to revert to a set of laws telling us what is sin.
Having a set of laws without an intimate relationship with Jesus and being influenced by the power of the Holy Spirit is just a religion that teaches us to be good. The set of laws will become a burden and a yoke on the people without any ability to help them have a right standing before God.
Romans 10:4 (NKJV) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Galatians 2:21 (NKJV) I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Likewise, we are in danger of being legalistic and having a form of outward religion without really living out new lives in Christ today. There is a tendency for us to lead very carnal and outwardly religious lives dictated by our flesh if we are not aware that we have to allow the Holy Spirit to influence us in our new lives in Christ. Then it is just a religion and not a life with God.
It is through the finished work of Jesus Christ and His work of redemption that we can have peace with God who has given us the gift of righteousness the moment we started believing in Him.
A huge difference stands between having a religion and a revelation of the kind of relationship that we can have with God.
2 Timothy 3:5,7 (NKJV) having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!….. always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
We are living in the last days which is the time from when Christ first appeared until His second coming. People living in the last days are characterised by all kinds of self-centredness and unnatural perversions. Some will maintain an outward pretence, speaking with Christian vocabulary but refusing the reality that Christianity offers. The Apostle Paul mentioned that people in the last days are always learning about God, but not really coming to the knowledge of the truth. The accumulation of knowledge of God has to come to a point where they realise, “Wow! This is who I am, this is what I have, and this is what I can do in and through Christ!”. Through such revelation, the life of the believer changes as he walks out the truth.
We need to be aware of the help that is available to us by the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth that we are a new creation after the born-again experience. Those who have a relationship with God are sensitive to the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and have the knowledge of the “new man” in Christ Jesus.
Let us live from the inside out because of the relationship we have with God and the Holy Spirit that we have within us.
Sermon Series: Fruit of the Holy Spirit – LOVE
