WHAT IS RELIGION?

So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? (Matthew 15:16 NKJV)

In this chapter, our Lord teaches that true religion is certainly not a matter of eating and drinking or outward ceremonial. It is the intention of the soul, the continual drawing from Christ the life power needed for our work and ministry to others. It may be illustrated by the experience of the diver, who explores the ocean floor, but draws upon the life-giving air that sweeps the ocean surface.

Our Lord did not under estimate the outward observance of the forms of religion; He set us a definite example by His attendance at synagogue and the Temple services, by nights spent in prayer, by constant reference to Holy Scripture, but these were only the outward and natural expression of His unbroken fellowship with His Father. Human love does not consist merely in outward expression, but in the hidden purpose of the heart, and yet, if there be no outward expression the spring will dry up!

Perhaps the two greatest definitions of pure religion are these, the first from the Old Testament: "Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God." And the second from the New Testament: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." But to fulfill each of these we need the aid of the Holy Spirit.

To be truly religious is within the reach and scope of us all; but we must avail ourselves of what Jesus Christ has done to bring us to God. In Him there is absolute forgiveness for all the past and infinite help and grace for the future. He is willing to be our guarantee, Friend, and Helper. Through Him we may become partakers of the divine nature, and escape the corruption which is in the world through lust.

PRAYER

Give unto me, gracious Lord, the pilgrim spirit that I may be in the world and not of it. Give me Your grace to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. May I ever walk worthy of the heavenly calling. I ask these things in Jesus’ name, AMEN.