I’m not sure who this last series of posts are really for – one of you out there actually taking the time to read them, or me the guy writing.  Perhaps this is just part of my own personal therapy.  But until this topic gets out of my system, we’ll continue to unpack it in this forum.  Love to hear your thoughts and personal stories.

I’ve been following Christ for a long time.  In fact, in my 35 years of life on this earth, I don’t remember one day I would have said I was “away from God.”  And for the past decade I’ve pursued Him passionately:  reading, listening, learning, praying, discussing, growing.  Some would even consider me a “professional Christian” (after all, that’s what pastors are, right?  We get paid to follow Jesus).

But after all these years, I’m noticing an interesting phenomena.  Knowledge is not my friend (or at least it initially seems that way on the surface).  The more I learn, the more I dig, the more I uncover about God, the more overwhelmed I become at the complete disaster that I am.  Knowledge has simply illuminated my failure, my innate inability to be Godly.

But if you’re like me, your gut reaction to this revelation may be as follows:

The more you learn, the more you realize the distance between where you are and where you should be.  That realization instinctively leads to immense effort to close the gap.  But the harder you try, the more you fail, and the more you fail, the more frustrated, fearful, or depressed you become.  And honestly, that’s where a lot of us live our lives each and every day (even many of us who have known Christ or been in and around the truth of the Gospel our entire lives fall victim).

So here’s where I am personally (and perhaps I should be embarrassed to say this as a life-long Christian, and a full-time pastor at that).  I’m going back to the basics.  Don’t let knowledge and revelation lead you towards effort, let it drive you to repentance.

Effort is your broken, sinful, human attempt to close the un-closable gap.  Repentance is your submission to the only true Gap Closer.  Effort leads to consistent frustration and failure.  Repentance allows the supernatural life of Christ to ignite inside of you.  Effort leads to  religion.  Repentance leads to Jesus.

I ran into a guy at the gym this morning that I’ve known informally for a few years.  He’s about 70 years old, former biker (actually, I’m pretty sure he’d still qualify as a biker), shaved head, more tattoos than bare skin, and could still out-duel me on any of the weight machines in the facility.  He could take me.  We both know it.

We’ve talked off and on over the years about life, about God, about church, his family, the multitude of tragedies he’s endured. He’s one of the most transparent guys I’ve ever talked to, not afraid to drop an F-bomb even in the “presence of a pastor,” and there’s something very refreshing about that.  He’s raw, he’s honest, and he tells me exactly what he thinks regardless of how he imagines I will interpret it.  I wish more people were like that with me. I bet God wishes we were more like that with Him, too.

This morning he was fighting some major depression, enough for him to pull me away from my workout and my iPod for a longer, more serious dialog than our usual niceties.  Waves of despair have been plaguing my friend, crashing into deserted islands of hopelessness that have led to serious thoughts of ending it all.  But honestly, that story isn’t new for him.  It wasn’t so much the details he was sharing as the vernacular he was using that really caught my attention:

“I determined a long time ago I was going to hell, but I still cry out to God, I still ask Him to help me.  But I know He won’t hear me because I’ve just done too many awful things. I try, and try, and try to please God, but I still screw up so I know He hates me.  I know He will never respond to me. I’ve tried, but I just can’t get it right.”

The sad reality is that none of us, myself included, are all that far away from my biker friend from the gym.  Whether we grew up in the church pews or in a life of debauchery, all of us struggle with the innate impulse that we must try to appease God.  We all fight the lie that God’s approval, His love, His willingness to hear our prayers is somehow tied to our goodness, to our self-rightouesness, to our ability to get it right.

Why?  Because that’s likely how we love others and how love was modeled for us…conditionally.  Even those of us who grew up in the greatest of family environments likely wrestle on some level with believing that unconditional love exists, from other human beings, let alone a holy, omnipotent, righteous Creator God.  It’s unnatural, it’s illogical, it’s counter-intuitive to accept that God loves us and will respond to us right now, as we are, through the person of Jesus Christ if we’ll submit to Him.  It does require something of us, it’s just our surrender not our effort. (For the record, neither are easy, but only one is effective).

So I’ll leave you with the verse I left my biker friend with standing over the curl machine early this morning (and a verse I have to remind myself of regularly):

“Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” (Romans 12:1 MSG)

Stop trying.  Start embracing.

So many people I know, myself included, are unpacking their religious baggage.  Religion is that outside-in, behavioral-based, systematic approach to God that is heavy, burdensome, and overwhelming.  It sneaks in stealth, quietly transforming our passion for Christ into a subculture of rules & expectations, a way of life, instead of the Giver of life Himself.

It feels good, liberating in fact, to rekindle the truth of the Gospel…that Jesus is a person, not a system…a relationship not a religion.

But I’ve noticed something.  A natural propensity, an impulse.  As many of us who grew up in the system find freedom from it, our gut reaction is to run away – to sprint far from the old rules, templates, and culture that held us in bondage.  And in doing only that, it’s possible to completely miss the point.

Run.  But don’t just run from. Run towards.

The Gospel is about freedom, but that freedom only comes through submission.  Not to a culture, a template, or a religious system, but to the person of Jesus Christ.  This life is still about the pursuit of God, it simply comes through surrender to Christ and not a set of behavioral modifications or striving in your own efforts to live up to some unachievable standard.

So as we continue to shed our religious weight, don’t just flee from rule-based self-righteousness.  Sprint full-force towards the open arms, into the heart and character of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

What are you running towards?

Religion is dangerous.  Sounds strange coming from a guy who co-leads a church, right?  But I’ve been around the block enough to have seen the immense damage religion can do.  Religion isn’t what God is about.  Religion is a spirit – a strong one – and it keeps people in bondage to a system, a structure, a culture instead of modeling a real, tangible, personal connection with God.

Religion is oppressive power cloaked in spirituality.  It’s stealth.  Religious people pray, read and reference their Bibles, and talk about God-things.  They hide behind pious imagery and position, but they reproduce death.

In Jesus day, the priests and teachers would stand in the synagogues and quote the prophetic scriptures about the Messiah coming to earth.  They longed for Him.  They prayed for Him.  But when Jesus literally walked into the room they hated Him.  Hated.

Jesus came to bypass their system.  God incarnate, walking among us, connecting with us in a personal way.  The religious system lost its monopoly, it’s power threatened.  And given the choice between finding the eternal fulfillment of all their internal longings or maintaining their religious system and power, they violently chose their structure and their culture over real life.  Religion always brings death.  Just ask Jesus.

The problem?  Religion is still on the loose today.  It’s rampant in nice churches, in classy spiritual leaders, in unsuspecting Christians.  It hides in the dark corners, waiting to war for it’s systems and cultures and destroy any hint of real life whenever it emerges.  Can you identify it?

Religion is oppressive.  Jesus is freedom.  Religion is about control.  Jesus is about empowerment.  Religion condenses serving God into a set of behaviors.  Jesus interacts with our lives in a real and intimate way.  Religion preserves itself at all costs.  Jesus gives His life away freely.

Which would you rather have?