Relationship Over Religion

I have heard many times that Christianity is more of a relationship rather than religion. I personally believe that Jesus Christ did not come to the world to establish a religion but He came so that we may have a Savior and mostly so that we can be reconciled with God the Father.

Jesus became the way for us to the Father so that we can enjoy a relationship with Him. It is said in the Bible that those who receive Jesus Christ and believe in His name, they have the right to become children of God.

So Christianity is really about our relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. In my experience, the relationship we have with Jesus is very personal because He knows the problems that we are going through and He offers us help to overcome those problems.

Sometimes, the solution to our problems is something that we have to resolve within ourselves like an attitude that hinders us from spiritual growth and blessings or perhaps it is a person whom God wants us to forgive or to ask forgiveness from and reconcile with.

But as we become more sensitive to God through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, we are changed and learn His ways and precepts. We learn to be more patient and to be more kind. We learn to forgive and to make peace with others.

We learn to initiate these things and humble ourselves before God and our fellow men so that our lives would be filled with love, joy, and peace. Having God in our lives causes us to bear fruit and when we trust and follow Jesus, we become more like Him.

We become like Jesus as we imitate Him. By God's grace and the power of His Holy Spirit, He enables us to see the world through His eyes and to respond to different trials, challenges, and adversities with faith and peace in our hearts and minds knowing that He will be with us through and through.

He will be our pillar of strength, our source of hope, our encouragement and guidance. We know that we are victorious because God is with us and He is for us. What we need to do is to trust in Him and obey His commands. Never compromise your faith rather stand firm in it and God will be faithful to us as well.

Being a Christian is the most wonderful experience I have ever had in all my life. Having a personal, vibrant, dynamic, and fruitful relationship with God through Jesus Christ gives me a fresh perspective every single day.

When I look at my problems, sometimes I shudder but when I look to God, my worries and fears are taken away. He brings peace in my heart and by His grace, I know that I can conquer the problems when I follow God's Word.

God wants to save lives today and He wants to solve your problems as well. He wants to take away all the pain, misery, restlessness, grief, sorrow, and all the negative emotions from you. He wants to fight your battles for you.

He wants to protect you from the thief, Satan, and He wants to take under His wings. He wants you to be victorious in life and to have peace in your heart. He wants you to become the best person you can ever be. He wants to unleash the potential that He has given you.

But He needs you to ask Him and take a bold step of faith in Him. He needs you to entrust all these things to Him and submit to His will and plan because He knows what is best. He wants to hear you call His name and ask Him for help. God will never force us to do anything and He will never force Himself upon us.

He will not intrude our lives nor will He try to control us. He will not come in and help us when we do not want Him to. Yet He continues to knock on the door of your heart. He continues to offer you His help. However, it is your choice to do what you want.

Being a Christian is a choice and when we commit our lives to Jesus, it is for eternity. He will be with us for eternity and as we live in this world, we will still experience problems; people will cause us pain but we can lift this all up to God. Being a Christian also means that our lives are in God's hands.

And when God calls us to do something, we obey Him because we love Him and we know that He is faithful. There will be a reward for our obedience to God but experiencing God move in our lives and seeing His hand mightily at work is a reward in itself. No material thing can compare to the experience we can have with God.

Being a Christian does not end when we step out of church on Sunday. It actually begins at that very moment and continues until the next week comes. We need to live by our faith every single day from Monday to Sunday.

Sunday is only the day when we have fellowship with our fellow believers and that is a wonderful time when we meet with other Christians and also with God as we praise and worship Him, and hear from His Word through His messenger.

But again, it does not end there. It is a daily choice to obey and follow Jesus wherever we go and whomever we meet and whatever comes our way.

So if you want a friend or a companion to talk to when you are lonely or downcast, you can lift your eyes on Jesus and He will comfort you. He will come to your aid because that is what He wants to do for you. He wants to take the load off from us.

Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We may be suffering or having problems but we can have peace in God and He can help solve our problems and relieve our sufferings. We endure these things as well because we have hope in God.

Lastly, as Christians, we have direct access to the Father through Jesus and we can call upon His name whenever and wherever, no matter what situation we may be in and He will come to us. He will answer us and when we seek Him, He will show us great and unsearchable things that we have never seen before.