When Religion Hurts
When religion hurts,
sometimes our greatest need
and our place of coming
face to face with Jesus
and receiving His all consuming healing,
will be the very place that
separates us from the crowd,
leaves us on the outside looking in,
gets us thrown right out of the synagogue.
When religion hurts,
sometimes our deepest wound
and our place of touching
heart to heart with God
and experiencing His all consuming love,
will be the very place that
people question and pass judgment,
people turn their backs,
people completely miss the touch of God.
Not everybody will celebrate a healing.
Not everybody will rejoice a life set free.
Not everybody will recognize God’s unmistakable presence
or the work He is doing in a life.
And sadly,
sometimes,
it is the religious people of the day –
those who profess
to understand God best,
to know God most –
who miss God altogether.
And sadly,
sometimes,
it is the religious people of the day –
those who profess
to be doing in the name of God
and ministering in the name of God,
who misrepresent God altogether.
God seldom moves the same way twice.
His miracles are as unique and individual
as each unique and individual circumstance,
as each unique and individual person.
If we look for Him
inside the box,
within our neatly defined man-made rules,
we are sure to miss Him.
A man was born blind –
not because he or his parents had sinned
like the religious people of the day
piously speculated,
but so through his need,
and God’s surpassing greatness to meet this need,
God would be glorified.
When Jesus,
through spit, mud, and blind faith
on the part of the blind man,
brought sight
where only darkness had been,
those walking in religious darkness
refused to see
The Light.
Holding on to all
they had to hold on to,
they couldn’t see beyond
the traditions of men
and their religious rules.
And despite the fact
that not one blind person
had ever been given sight before,
the man healed –
who had come face to face with Jesus,
who had come heart to heart with God,
who now believed this must be God,
was thrown out the synagogue.
No clapping.
No celebrating.
No rejoicing.
Only judgment.
Only “We know better than you.”
Only rejection.
For the man who was blind
but could now see,
this was his second blessing.
For not only did he
receive the gift of sight that day,
he received –
in place of religion,
the gift of Jesus, Himself.
And, he fell down and worshiped Him.
Living Christianity
by a set of rules,
with an unchanged,
religious heart
will always lead
to judging others
instead of trying
to save others.
Just look at the women caught in adultery.
It was the religious people
who brought her
to Jesus
for judgment.
It was the religious people
who held
the stones
in their hands.
Religion minus the love of Jesus –
judges, hurts, and rejects people.
Jesus minus the man-made rules of religion –
heals, saves, and restores people.
And when we have Jesus,
when we truly see Him
and truly come to know Him
for WHO HE IS,
we fall at His feet and worship Him.
~Stacy
