We sometimes mistake religious performance for a relationship with God, convinced that if we just check enough boxes, we’re doing what He desires. The Pharisees kept all the rules, yet their hearts were far from Him. Jesus repeatedly crossed their man-made boundaries, not in rebellion, but to remind us that God cares more about what’s right than what’s merely religious. The world isn’t looking for people with all the answers; they want to see people who actually look like Jesus. May we have the courage to love like He does, even when the religious establishment won’t, because doing what’s right sometimes means breaking the rules.
Confronting Dead Religion
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It’s deceptively easy to let our walk with Christ slip into autopilot—showing up at church, tossing some money in the plate, trying to look the part—while our hearts drift further from Him. In Jesus’ day, the religious elite had reduced temple worship to a mere transaction. Sacred space became marketplace noise. So Jesus made a whip and drove them out, declaring they had desecrated His Father’s house. But now we are the temple, and every day our choices reveal who truly reigns in our hearts. So ask yourself—what tables need overturning in your life? What clutter needs clearing so worship can be real again? What would it look like to love Him not just with your lips, but with your life?
