Man-Made Religion vs Spiritual Religion

We are all capable of forming and organizing a religious belief, because we have inherently in each of us a desire to have a god. The Romans were polytheistic,so they believed in many different religions, and thus some real "doozies" can come out of that weird belief system. Religions are a huge part of our world, and the desire to fill this black hole in our hearts comes up with many opinions about how to fill it. Thus, the formation of religions that are based on man's reaching out to whom they might think is the "real" god, and yet, still missing the mark. For those of us who trust and follow the Word of God, we see the world in a totally different way than those other expressions of religion. Our God, Jehovah, is not someone we have to reach up to for our salvation. Our God has reached down to us from a heart of love we cannot even explain with our human minds. So, our attempts to be made right with God are filled with weak attempts at righteousness and "doing the right things." These attempts are part of that 'reaching up" with our strength and our supposed "good" works to make us right with God.

Our righteousness is recorded as filthy rags, and the prophet Isaiah spoke the words of God in Isaiah 64:⁶ We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. ⁷ Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy.

Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. This encapsulates our weak efforts at righteousness, godliness, and good. We cannot do it because worthless is worthless, and our source is the problem. Righteousness that comes from us is worthless and sourced from a very fallen source, us.

Paul had to "right the ship" in the church in Galatia and remind them of God's grace and God's righteousness in their lives. They apparently kept trying to fall back into their own self-righteousness as their source for living the life that pleased God. They could not get beyond the law of Moses that was so ingrained in their lives, and thus missed the true effect of the grace of God. Galatians 3:1 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. ² Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. ³ How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? ⁴ Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?

Man-made religion is based on the commandments of men, and it is flawed in every form, because it is filled with empty words that honor God in the mind, but not in the heart. We cannot earn our way to heaven, and we cannot live a good enough life on our best days. Ephesians 2: ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and ^[l]this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. The result of taking God's righteousness is good works, and those good works keep us in a good religion, which is the result of living from a pure source. James 1: ²⁶ If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless. ²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

When we get to the point where we think we are good enough and we rely on our goodness, then we have missed the point. On the other hand, when we totally rely on God's grace and His righteousness as learned from the Word of God, and get out of the way of the Holy Spirit, we wil begin to see a major heart change and in that change is all generated by God's mercy and grace, and it has nothing to do with how good or bad we are. We are sinners saved by God's grace, not our goodness. The rich young ruler was an excellent example of how we need to be and how we need to believe in Matthew 19:16-22.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren