Something Greater Than Religion!
“… And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26).
Ask people about the major religions of the world, and the first one many would probably mention would be Christianity. But there’s nothing in the Bible that suggest Christianity is a religion. Though many Christians have even helped propagate the notion that Christianity is “the world’s greatest and most respected religion,” the truth is Christianity isn’t a religion.
Religion is man’s work towards God, but Christianity is God’s work in man. It’s a call to oneness with Divinity (Colossians 1:26-27 MSG). God didn’t want us looking up or reaching out to heaven for Him; He wasn’t even satisfied to merely be with or live amongst us as “Emmanuel”—God with us (Matthew 1:23). Rather, He chose to take up His abode in the quarters of our hearts! That’s Christianity! It’s the life of God lived out through you. It’s the unveiling of the Living Word in a human life! Until this becomes a personal revelation to you, all you have will be mere religion.
Thus, the reason we go to church, pray, preach the gospel and do the things we do as Christians isn’t because we’ve received a religion, but because we’ve received God’s nature—His life. That’s what Jesus brought to us. He made it possible for us to receive into our spirits the same quality of life that only God has: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Thus, if you’re born again, you’ve become a partaker of God’s divine nature, having been imparted with His life! This is what it means to be a Christian—having the nature of God in your spirit and His pulsating life in every fiber of your being!
Further Study:
1 John 5:11-13