By Ken Fletcher
“There is a huge difference between religion and actually knowing Jesus. Religion colors the truth of our relationship with Jesus. It puts it into a certain limited viewpoint. Being in Christ is what mankind must understand is paramount. Being outside of Christ means we are outside of His eternal life. There is no other eternal life that is God’s own eternal life but in Christ!
Religion wants to interject it’s requirements to enter into the Kingdom. One has to do this or that to be received by God. Not true! No way! It is only by God’s grace (eternal life provided by God Himself) through our faith (we enter in by responding to the truth by believing and acting upon it). God’s grace through our faith! That’s not religion, that is responding to God’s word through faith.
We believe Jesus was and is who He said He was and is. He backed up everything He said with action. He said He would rise from the dead, and He did. That is the proof He was who He said He was along with all the miracles He did. That’s not religion! That is faith in God’s message and proof.
If the church does not point to Jesus as the truth, then I will not be part of that place. The important thing is to only be where you and I are supposed to be in His will. That is the place! We should personally know Jesus for ourselves. So much so that we instantly know when a, so called, ministry is not right in some way. We should personally know from Him! Inside!
We have Jesus! It’s not a religion of dos and don’ts! It is relationship with our Father and Jesus! We are infused with His Spirit! Filled with His nature! This is the work of God within us! This is not religion! This is real relationship with our Lord and our God inside! Now and forever!
Religion has the stench of fallen man on it! Trying to make ourselves acceptable to God. True relationship with God is pure and transparent. It flows with the heart of God. That is the real of our relationship with God in Christ. No religion! All religions of this world (including Christian religions) have at least one thing in common. In all of them, one has to perform or do something to be right with God.
They are all in someway based upon what we do to be right with God or progress and be accepted with Him. That’s religion! God does not accept us on the basis of what we don’t do or what we can do. It is meaningless to Him. Because, He has given Jesus to us! What we can do in comparison to what Jesus has done is garbage to God.
There is only one thing that is acceptable to God and that’s faith in Jesus for our redemption! That’s it! No religion here! It’s all about relationship! It’s all about God’s grace through Christ! We enter in by faith, not by what we can do.
We realize and understand that Jesus has become our only way back to God. We see how our enemy, the devil, has deceived so many people. We want to get the pure truth of Jesus to the world. Each person needs to know Jesus and have a relationship with God themselves.
The simplicity of this good news from God trips people up. They think, that’s too good! That is too easy! There must be a catch! We must do something to qualify somehow! No, it really is that simple and easy to enter in. The first step is humility. We must realize that we cannot save ourselves. We’re helpless before God in our current state. We must realize that religion cannot save us from destruction. No. It’s only by God’s grace which has appeared to us in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who came to deliver us from a certain fate of being separated from God. Which is eternal death.
We are eternal beings–all of us. Created in the image and likeness of God. But, not all have the life of God within us on earth. Only those who are in Christ have God’s eternal life. Jesus came to bring to us the eternal life of God that we desperately needed.
He was raised up and conquered death, hell, and Satan’s kingdom once and for all. Because of what Jesus did (that we could not do), we enter into God’s grace through faith. This is God’s way that He has provided. Not ours.
I believe many will stand in front of Him in the day of Judgment and say that they should be accepted based upon what they did good, etc. Jesus said that His reply to those people is, “I never knew you”.
What does that mean? It means that it does not matter what you have done or how great it is. What matters is if Jesus knows you or not! That is what matters! Are you and I in Christ or not! That is what matters to God! That’s not religion! That is God’s truth! It’s not by our works (performance), but it’s about what Jesus has done and our faith in Him!
I get weary hearing preachers talk about doing this or that to become right with God. If our works are required for us to be right with God or be closer to God, then we are sunk! Because, there will always be something in this life that we are not going to do right. We all have imperfections in our bodies and also the mind of the flesh. But, that is on the outside that relates to the earth and the world.
Oh, but inside, the believer is one with God. Uninterrupted fellowship with Jesus and the Father. The Holy Spirit is fused with our spirit. We are instantly in contact with Jesus all the time! There is no distance. It’s all inside where we live with Jesus and the Father. That is why we are seated with Jesus in the Throne in the heavenlies. We are there now! Just as He is here inside now! This is not religion! This is eternal relationship with God!
Have you been just going through the motions of religion? One that tells you if you do certain things you will be right with God? That relies on YOU performing in certain ways to achieve being right with God? Trust me, you will never get it good enough for God. But, the man Jesus, did! He got it perfectly right in every way.
God requires us to receive by faith His Son Jesus for our redemption. Through Christ, God has provided the way back to Himself. Through Christ, and our faith in Him, we can have God once again and forever! This is not religion. This is God’s grace through our faith that brings His own eternal life to us! Receive Jesus by faith today!” KF KenFletcher.org
