Religion

4-8-2009

I had a meeting one afternoon with a friend of mine about some work related issues, and the topic of Christianity came up. I’ve known this particular person for a while now, and I knew he wasn’t brought up in a Christian home, and he isn’t a believer, but I am also not the type to beat people over the head with a bible. Little did he know, I had been praying that the conversation of salvation would come up, and that he would be open to the conversation, but I didn’t know that he would bring it up!

One of the major topics of conversation was his desire to reach the level of business success that I have been blessed to have achieved. He is new to sales, and he has the desire and drive to do big things in business, so I agreed a while back to give him advice along his journey as long as he would be coachable. As the conversation started, I asked him if he knew what I felt the most important thing in life was, and as God would have it, he made the comment, “I know you are very religious.” Here is my response:

I am not religious at all. In fact I cannot stand religion. To me religion is a bunch of people running around saying all the right things, doing the right things (at times), and they still don’t have a clue who Christ truly is. Anyone can memorize scripture, dress up on Sundays and go to church, and say the right things. I know someone who embodies these characteristics, yet she is clueless as to who Christ truly is! She is so caught up in religion that she misses the point of Christ’s death and resurrection. Do you know why most people go to the church they go to, or worship the God they worship? Their parents went to that church, or worshipped that God. They never truly studied why their parents took them to that church, or who Christ is and what Christ did. Christ literally walked this earth. He performed miracles that even non-believers admit they witnessed, but they chalked it up to magic! Christ walked this earth as a humble servant, he died, and he rose again. Everything Christ said would happen happened, and everything he predicted, has come to fruition, even as we speak. The bible is truth, and it is an account of exactly what happened before the birth of Christ, during the life of Christ, and after Christ ascended into heaven. If you were to read the bible, you would literally get chills at some points because you would realize the events Christ said would happen are literally happening over 2000 years later just as Christ said they would. So, the questions I have for you are simple: doesn’t it make sense to figure out exactly who this Jesus guy is? When Christ says there is only one way to Heaven, don’t you feel it’s important to figure out what that way is? Though I was taken to church as a kid, I still didn’t have a clue who Christ was until I overheard a friend of mine say something about “hearing God.” He was an older man, and he literally said, “God is speaking to me.” That fascinated me. I wanted God to speak to me, so what do I have to do to make that happen! I remember sitting in bed that night asking God to speak to me if He was real. I never got the immediate answer I was looking for that night. It wasn’t until I started researching Christianity before I realized God doesn’t literally speak to us. I’m not saying He can’t as He is God and He can do anything he wants, but the bible tells us, He speaks to us through the written word of God, the bible, and through various situations in life (people, events, etc.). After hearing the words, “God is speaking to me” I started researching different denominations, religions, churches, etc. I asked every question you could imagine, and through this process I learned the only way to real success, Christ. To answer your question, if you want to reach your God given potential if life, success, you need to know, understand, and accept Christ. Until you invest the time to do so, there will ALWAYS be a void in your life, and nothing will ever be enough. If you put your faith, hope, life, etc. into worldly things, you will be let down because everything of this world will disappear. Focus your trust on the eternal and you will quickly realize the things of this world don’t mean much in the way of success. If God is at the center of everything you do, you will never be let down because He will never abandon you. He may not answer you exactly when you think He should, but remember, you are on God’s time, not your time, and God never says, “Oops”! I don’t have all of the answers, I make mistakes all of the time, and I pray for forgiveness every day of life, but you must understand the difference between the worldly definition of success and the real definition of success. According to the world, you could say I am very successful. I have an amazing wife, money, house, cars, etc. The world views success in the temporal, but when you die, where does this stuff go? Success is the understanding we must die to the world and we will then truly understand what it means to be alive. There are many times in my life when I wondered why God would allow certain things to happen, but I’m quickly reminded that we aren’t called to question God, we are called to have faith in God. I want you to be successful. I want to see you alive, but I do not want to force Christianity upon you. If you would like to take this conversation further, I would be honored to help you in any way I can. I do not want to force anything on you, but since you asked, I felt it was important you know that I am not religious, I am a Christ follower.

Application:
1. Read James chapter 2
2. Do you have genuine faith, or is there a little religious in you?