Religion versus the Way of the Spirit
I'm going to quote from a book I just read recently with the hopes that it would encourage others to also want to read it. It's by Larry Crabb from his new book SoulTalk.
First of all what is Religion:
First, God has not promised us a better life of blessings in this world. Blessings may come to faithful people. They may not come to faithful people. Rain falls on the godly and the ungodly. So does hail. There is no linear relationship between getting it reasonably right and having life go reasonably well. That's the lie of religion.
Second, what Paul called the Old Way of the written code (see Romans 7:6; Deuteronomy 29:9; Hebrews 7:18-19) is a weakened and corrupted version of God's Old Covenant with his people. He required absolute perfection, a careful keeping of the entire law, as the condition for deserved blessings. None of us qualified. Religion, as opposed to the Old Covenant, reduces God to a convenient and cooperative deity, makes obedience easy by requiring only what we can do, and then promises a pleasant life if we at least try hard. Get it reasonably right and life will work reasonably well. That's the Old Way. That's religion, and it turns prayer into presumption, worship into negotiation, and obedience into pressure.
Religion encourages us to be preoccupied with the fruits of knowing God, not with the reality, to be a religious friend, to embrace the Old Way of having a good life. But when we do, we speak SelfTalk. Results may seem good, but it will move no one closer to true goodness. Second things are in first place. The path may seem right, but its end is the absence of all goodness. God has been replaced as the object of our affections. He has instead become the means to what we most want.
Finally, when we speak with people in an effort to help them live better so their life works better, we offer life management, not SoulCare, and we speak SelfTalk. The New Way of the Spirit is entirely different. Listen to its message:
Everything needed to draw near to God is in place. We are fully forgiven by God. Our identity, in God's eyes, is Jesus follower -- not adulterer or sex addict, etc. Our deepest longing is not to feel alive as a man or a woman, but to know and enjoy God, to reveal God by becoming more like Jesus. We have all the power to move toward that vision. We do not have the power to change the hearts of others. That's between them and God's Spirit.
We as humans, though deeply and legitimately hurt, are at the moment more committed to protecting ourselves against further hurt than to knowing God. Yet even in that condition of soul, because of the gospel, we are whole and profoundly beautiful. God delights in us. Our adulterous determination to never hurt like this again is fully forgiven. It is not understood by an empathic God as much as it is forgiven by a holy and gracious God. Our identity is not sinner. We are saints who are flawed and hurting relating to others who are also flawed and hurting.
Our deepest and most passionate desire (though we cannot feel it in the midst of our pain) is to walk through our misery into the presence of God. It is not to close the door and run away. The Spirit has made no promise to supply power to keep our soul safe from further hurt. If that is our vision we will be on our own, and personal safety will be our vision if our appetite for God is not aroused. The Spirit will supply the power to wrap our soul around God, if that's what we want most.
A vision to know God better will come into focus as our desire to know God is awakened. Our pain and fear will continue, but we will begin to experience peace and joy. And we will quietly come alive with the power to forgive and the wisdom to make God-honouring decisions that reveal the character of God to our friends, spouses, children etc. Eventually, that will mean more to us than protecting ourselves from further pain or relieving the pain that's already there.
When we join people on their journey away from religion toward Christianity, into the New Way of the Spirit who leads us to God, we offer SoulCare, and we speak SoulTalk.
I found the book profoundly enlightening and hope your appetites have been whet to know a deeper way of knowing God and relating to each other.