RELIGIOUS? OR RELATING?
As a single father, I often look at my 4 year old daughter and the thing that I long for the most probably is to have a greater relationship with her and for her to also have a greater relationship with me. It is not that we do not have one. We do. But the cry of my heart is for us to be ever closer to one another. And the thought occurs to me that if we, as earthly parents, desire to have this close relationship with our own children, then how much more would our Father in heaven desire to have a closer relationship with us...His own children ... also?
Recently, I was on my way to church and preparing to bring a message to our congregation. As is sometimes the case, I do not always know what I am going to speak about until I actually arrive. So while en route I was praying and asking the Lord what it was that He wanted me to say. "What is Your heart towards Your people, Lord?" I asked. "What would you have me say tonight?" And the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart explicitly and said, "Tell My people that I want to have a relationship with them."
In a society where many of today's children no longer want to love, submit or relate to their own parents, we have seen this growing problem of no love, rebelliousness and unwillingness to relate honestly creep right into our churches. And the attitude of some professed Christians as both adolescents and grown adults today is one of indifference even towards God Himself. They come to church, sing the songs, fellowship with one another but they refuse to relate to the God they profess to serve. And for this reason the scriptures say that in the last days people will hold to a form of godliness but deny the power thereof (2Timothy 3:5). In essence, they will become a "religious" people yet with no true relationship to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These are people who want it both ways. They want to be called "Christians" and yet they still want to live in their sinful lifestyles. They want to go to church on Sundays but sleep with their boyfriends and girlfriends Monday through Saturday. They want to go to heaven tomorrow but still serve the master of hell today. Yet God is calling for an end to deception. God is calling for repentance within His own church and amongst those who profess to be His people. He is calling for those who profess to be Christians to get their house in order. God is calling for those who claim to be His children to have their hearts renewed to their heavenly Father and to relate to Him...to know Him! God is calling you out! He is telling you to separate yourself from the world and its worldly attitudes! "Come out from among them and be separate!" (2 Corinthians 6:17) And I have a Word for some church pastors who would rather turn a blind eye to sin and never deal with those in their congregations who commit it because they are afraid of losing half their congregation. And that Word is, "Stop It! You will be held accountable before God!" Under the guise of "grace" some of these so-called Shepherds allow sin to run rampant in their churches and offenders to stumble entire congregations but will not lift a finger of rebuke or correction because it might cost them some church member's tithes and offerings! This should not be.
It is time for some of us to make a choice and either serve the Lord we profess to believe in or just be honest and say, "No thank You," to Jesus. It is time for some of us to get off the proverbial fence and either relate to God wholeheartedly and serve Him or just go ahead and serve the devil wholeheartedly. It is time to put an end to hypocrisy. Jesus said that He desires that we be either hot or cold, rather than lukewarm! (Revelations 3:16) Christian brother and sister, if you are on the fence then get off of it. God desires to have a true relationship with you and without such a relationship no man or woman professing to know Christ will ever enter into heaven and that is proven in the Bible. Please read the following scripture with me. It is an exhortation that Jesus Christ Himself directs to the Church.....to professed Christians.
Matthew 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. NASB
You see, there is no doubt that when some pass on from this earth and go to stand before the Lord on that final day, they will quite shockingly find themselves at the gates of hell rather than the gates of heaven. Some of them will then attempt to plead with Jesus, even referring to Him as their Lord and saying, "Lord, Lord, did we not perform miracles in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, tithe to You, go to church, join the church, sing in the choir, preach in the church, feed the homeless, get baptized and so forth. And all of those things are good yet they are not enough. But the Lord will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me you who practice lawlessness." He never KNEW them. Do you see? There was NO RELATIONSHIP between the Lord and them that existed. Why is that? Because Jesus said in His Word that "If you love Me you will keep My commandments." (John 14:21) Keeping His commandments does not include practicing sin. Note that I said "practicing." There is a difference between the one who falls from time to time and is genuinely sorry and repentful, as opposed to someone who "practices" a particular sin or lifestyle. And the problem is that these so-called brothers and sisters in Christ who want it both ways are being religious. They thought that good works would save them WITHOUT having a true relationship with Jesus Christ Himself. Such a relationship means "change" and these brothers and sisters enjoy their sinful lifestyles too much to change. They don't really love Him at all. Like an unfaithful spouse, they cheat on God and carry on a torrid affair with the things of this world and the spirit of this age. They did not love Him enough to stop sinning...to stop living in sin while they were singing in the choir, preaching the gospel, joining a church, getting baptized or feeding the homeless and so on. Brother and sister, being "religious" is not enough! It was never about "religion"! It is about a "relationship" with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not just about you joining a church. It is about you knowing God, seeking after Him earnestly and desiring a relationship with Him. And you might ask, "Well why do you think people join a church in the first place?" I will answer by saying that while many who join are sincere and want to know God, many others join to soothe their consciences, they join solely for social reasons, for "religious need" and a myriad of other reasons. I have heard one person tell me he joined to "discover his spiritual side" and never mentioned a thing about knowing God. For people like that there can never be a true relationship with Jesus Christ because in the end it is still ALL ABOUT THEM and never about God.
If you are reading this right now and feel the finger of God writing upon the walls of your heart and telling you that you have come short and are wanting, then I implore you to seek the face of the Lord right now. Lets do this right. It is not a time for religion or for making promises that make you feel good for the moment. Rather, it is a time for honesty. A time to take inventory of your heart and your life. Is "religion" all you want or do you really want to know the Lord? The idea that there are many roads to heaven is a lie. There is only one way and it is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the truth, the way and the light. No one comes to the Father but by Me." (John 14:6) You might say, "Well I think there are many ways to God." But what you think will not change the truth and the truth is that you cannot write your own rules to heaven. If you do that then you are writing a one way ticket to hell. God does not play by your rules. We must participate by His rules and the only way to heaven is by way of a relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray that He will never have to say to you, "Depart from Me for I never knew you." How sad it will be for some on that final day. How sad indeed.
God wants a relationship with you. How do you obtain that? The Bible says that in the day you seek for Him with your whole heart you will find Him. (Jeremiah 29:13) It requires a genuine hunger and diligent seeking after Him through prayer and the reading of His Word. The Apostle Paul says that, forgetting those things that are past, we reach forward to what lies ahead, pressing on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phillippians 3:13-14). You see, it requires a daily walk that includes seeking Him with your whole heart and then pressing on continually. It is a continual hungering, thirsting and seeking after Him to know Him better. The cry of the Apostle Paul's heart was, "Oh that I might know Him." (Phillipians 3:10) To obtain that type of relationship with the Lord also means letting go of the past in order to embrace your present and future.
One day the end of the age will stare us all in the face and everything will be said and done. And when the Book of Life is read in the heavens and we take into account those who never made it, I think we will look into hell only to see that it was not that there were so many sinners..... just so many strangers. I encourage you to please make that decision today not to be a stranger to God. Come to Him. Come just as you are and then seek an honest relationship with the Lord based on His Word. It is a roadmap to God and to heaven and will guide you in establishing that true relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May God bless this Word to your hearts.
Mischa S. Safdie'
Mischa S. Safdie' Ministries
136 N. Grand Avenue, Suite 278
West Covina, CA 91791
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