FROM SECONDHAND RELIGION TO FIRSTHAND FAITH

For too long many of us have embraced a secondhand religion that is based on believing certain doctrines and defending traditions of our faith.

This secondhand religion is based on what we have heard from others - our parents, our family, our church - about who God is what God is like. It defines Christianity, and the Christian life, as nothing more than believing what the Bible says [or what our denomination or church tells us it says].

But the time is ripe for us to shed this dead religion in favor of a more vibrant and living relationship with a person - not a book or a creed or a statement of faith - but a God "in whom we live and move and have our being."

This is firsthand faith. In contrast to secondhand religion, firsthand faith is about an actual relationship with the person that the Bible points to. It's about knowing God and His Son in an intimate way.

All through the Gospels Jesus urges us to abandon the perceived safety of religious information gathering to the truly abundant life found only by abiding in Him.

We are called into an intimacy with God that is scandalous and breath-taking. [Matt. 6:9]

He is our "Papa" and we are His children. [1 John 3:1]

He invites us to draw near. [James 4:8]

He wants to make His home in us. [John 14:23]

He wants us to experience an intimacy with Him that compares to the union of a husband and wife. [Eph. 5:32]

He wants us to experience a "knowing" of Himself that conceives something within us. [John 17:3]

What this intimacy conceives in us is a new life that comes only from our close connection with Himself. [2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:5]

The sad thing is, too many of those who profess themselves to be Christians are not experiencing Christ in this way. They have not yet moved from secondhand religion into a firsthand knowledge of God where His voice is heard, His mind is known, and His heartbeat becomes synced with their own.

Secondhand religion leads to a life of anxiety, fear and stress.

Firsthand faith leads to a life of joy, hope, peace and confidence based on our connection to God.

If you're still stuck in a secondhand religion, I invite you to begin moving into a firsthand experience of God through the Spirit of Christ.

It can be as simple as taking some time to sit quietly alone with the Lord and whispering a prayer to Him, asking for a deeper experience of His presence; being still to know that He is God.

It won't happen all at once, but if you are serious about abandoning your secondhand religion in order to enter into firsthand knowledge of God, you will be rewarded.

"...they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us." [Acts 17:27]

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after God, for they shall be filled....Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." [Matt. 5:6;8]

"...and they shall call him 'Immanuel', which means 'God with us'" [Matt. 1:23]

Are you ready to move from secondhand religion to firsthand faith?

He is waiting to show you more of Himself.

The time is now.

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AS I LIVE AND BREATHE

What if I were to spend most of my time seeking out the boundaries of my savior’s love? What if I were to focus my energies on plumbing the depths of the heart of Jesus? What if it were my supreme passion to know Him better today than I did the day before?

There are times when I find my heart beating faster as I begin to realize how close the Almighty creator of the Universe is to my own heart. Like swimming in the ocean and suddenly turning to realize that there is a massive whale swimming just outside your reach and you find you can barely breathe.

These realities escape us for the most part. We take such grandeur and majesty for granted, or deny it outright in the mundane sameness of our daily routine.

Think of this: The same Jesus who walked on water is alive right now within you. The same Messiah who calmed the storm with a word is listening to your heart beat this very moment. He knows your thoughts right now. He knows your pain, your fears, your doubts, and your insecurities. He longs for you to cast your cares upon him because he cares for you – yes, you.

More than this, Jesus WANTS to be found. He wants you and I to seek His face. He longs to reveal more of Himself to those who are hungry and thirsty for His presence.

You could talk to Jesus right now. He will listen. You could grow closer to Jesus – and allow him to grow closer to you – with simply a whisper of a prayer under your breath and a few minutes of silence as you drive to your next appointment.

Our imaginations are so dull. For example, we take no thrill in the fullness of the thought that we will be alive two hundred thousand years from now; just as alive – even more alive – than we are right now.

Today I am trying to remember that every breath I breathe today is taken in harmony with Christ. Every beat of my heart belongs completely to him alone.

“Lord Jesus, come live and breathe in me today. Help me to hear your voice, to see your face, and to experience your presence more and more.”

Amen.
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