Religion. It is something that affects all of us. Whether we decide to participate in it or not, we still at some point need to make a decision regarding it. Many in our generation choose against it. Its lack of reality leaving us disillusioned, we can’t believe that its flimsy answers are worth our lives. It is with good reason that so many come to this conclusion.
Unfortunately, however, most of us who reject religion have equated religion with God, and so in giving up on religion, we have given up on God Himself. The faults of the religious system have left us believing that the God described in religion either does not exist or is not worth pursuing. Little do we realize that not only are God and religion not the same; they are versus each other.
We may define religion as being a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.1 From the effect that this kind of system has upon those it touches, we may say that religion has two outstanding characteristics. First, religion is dead—it is both lifeless and unable to give life. Second, it is burdensome—it is full of impossible demands. God and religion are diametrically opposed on every imaginable front. But it is in these two aspects that we see how very much God is versus religion.
Dead Weight
The life that we see around us in nature is flourishing and full of vigor. It is essential to our existence and is the beauty of the universe. Even so, throughout the course of our existence, we cannot help but witness the transitory quality of life. No matter how lively and living something might be—how lush a forest, how vibrant a community—at a certain point, it will and must pass away. It is this realization that sets us in search of a life that is really life—a life that is genuine, lasting, and immutable.
Many have sought this higher life within religion. Yet it seems that the more they participate in religion, the deader they become. Although religion may (in some cases) make people well-behaved or give them a better grasp of dogma, it does little to eradicate the sense of death and vanity they feel within. In the end, settling for religion is like settling for plastic flowers. No matter how good they look, they do not have the appeal and reality of a real, living flower. They may have the same shape, the same color, and the same texture as a real flower, but they are missing the life. In the same way, religion can never give us the life we need but do not possess.
Religion, moreover, is full of demands and requirements. Throughout the course of our daily life, we bear the burden of so many expectations and standards that we try to meet. As we grow older, the demands only become heavier and more numerous. These demands come not only from without—society, school, work, family—they also come from within. Even our desire to be successful and our attempts to achieve lasting happiness can become sources of bondage to us. Our lives prove to be an eternal quest for things that, once in hand, fail to bring the peace and rest we thought they would.
Already loaded with earthly burdens too heavy to bear, religion requires that we behave better, act “holier,” and be happier. Many people have been led to think that in order to know God, they must fulfill some kind of religious duty. Others have the notion that there is a certain method they must follow in order to be in His presence. Still others, seeking to contact and experience God, think that if they are in a religious building or on a mountain in the splendor of nature, their attempts will somehow be more successful. No matter how sincere and heartfelt, our keeping religious regulations and meeting “spiritual” demands will never bring us to God. Despite our hopes, religion ultimately straps more burdens to the load we already bear.
So if God is not religion, then who is He? And if He is not in religion, how can we know Him?
Life and Liberty
The fact is, we need not perform any duty, practice any method, or behave in a particular kind of way to have a genuine relationship with God or experience Him. Instead, He tells us that He, in Jesus Christ, has become the life-giving Spirit so that we can experience and enjoy Him.2
As the name implies, God in Christ as the life-giving Spirit desires mainly to do one thing: give us the life of God. As Jesus Himself said, “it is the Spirit who gives life.”3 This life is not just any life; it is God’s life. God’s is the highest life in the universe. This life is not only everlasting; it is eternal and indestructible, immutable and unchanging. This is the life that is really life—the life of which our human life is but a shadow.4 This life overwhelms and swallows any and all sense of death. This is the life that can genuinely enliven, invigorate, and quicken us at the core of our being.
It is when we enter into the vast expanse of God’s life by receiving Him as the life-giving Spirit that we know for the first time what it is to be truly free. The Bible says that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”5 God knows who we are and what we need. He does not expect anything from us. Adjusting our behavior to meet a certain standard is not His intention. All He wants is for us to enjoy Him.
When we receive Christ as the life-giving Spirit, He satisfies us inwardly, thereby saving us from an existence of endless seeking and vain pursuit. When we enjoy Him, He frees us from every burden and breaks the bonds of religion. He will become to us our deep source of life and peace. As we enjoy this wonderful life, we will no longer struggle under the weight of existence and religion. Regardless of our circumstances, this freedom is constant and unchanging. This is true freedom. It is an inward liberation, a freedom of the soul.
In Him
Christ, who is God, is living, freeing, and experiential, and His desire is that we would know Him in an inward and personal way. Because the living God is not within the lifeless forms of religion, He wants us to seek Him outside religion.6 He wants to lead us on a life that is free of religious duty and filled with His living presence. The answer to our seeking and the center of a God-filled life is simply Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
The way to enter into such an experience of God is not through any system—it is only through Christ. When we receive Christ, God Himself reaches us with real life and perfect freedom. All we must do to receive Him is let go of our religious ideas about Him, open our hearts to Him, and believe into Him. In so doing, we will find that God is living and available. There will be no more need to remain dissatisfied with religion. It will be behind us, Christ will be within us, and all that we need we will find in Him. 
1 Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, s.v. “religion” (back) 2 First Corinthians 15:45b (back) 3 John 6:63 (back) 4 First Timothy 6:19 (back) 5 2 Corinthians 3:17 (back) 6 Hebrews 13:13 (back)
To desire God is not religious; to desire God is human. If you would like to enter into a real and living experience of Him, it is very simple. All you must do is open to Him and pray the following:
"O Lord Jesus, I love You! Thank You that You became a man to die for my sins. Thank You that in resurrection, You became the life-giving Spirit. Lord Jesus, come into me! Free me from religion and fill me with real life and freedom. Bring me into the full experience of all that You are. Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me!"
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