Losing Your Religion

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” – Galatians 3:10

Every religion is basically trying to answer the same two questions: 1) How do you relate to God?, and 2) How can you have a relationship with God? Not only do all religions ask the same two questions, but they all basically give the same answer – how you live before you die determines where you go after you die.

Paul wrote the book of Galatians to show all religious people that if you want to be rightly related to God, you have to lose your religion. Surprisingly enough, focusing too much on being religious and trying to follow all of the rules and laws can actually keep you from ever finding God. Jesus did not come to introduce us to a new religion. He came to deliver us from religion so we could enter into a relationship with God, and that means viewing the law in the context that Jesus, and later Paul, explained it.

Paul makes it very clear that the law does not commend people who try to keep it, but rather it condemns people because they can’t keep it. He says, “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law,’” (Galatians 3:10). In other words, if you are going to perform your way to God, then you’ve got to meet His standard, not yours.

One of the problems we have in understanding how God’s law operates is we try to see the Law of God the way we see the Law of Humanity. A perfect law giver who has given a perfect law demands perfect obedience to that law. If you have broken one law, you may as well have broken every law. So don’t put more stock into your obedience than you do in God’s saving work in your life. Instead, lose your religion and recognize the law the way Jesus intended you to – a way to point out your need for Him.

Dear Lord, thank you for sending your Son to die so that I could have a relationship with you, despite my imperfections. Help me not to cling to the law for salvation, but to cling to you instead, remember that the law is a reminder of my inability to save myself. Amen.