Why I Hate Religion: 10 Reasons to Break Free from the Bondage of Religious Tradition (12 page)

T
here is a nasty monster on the loose that is blocking the power of God from operating through the Body of Christ as it should. You may think the culprit is the hard-to-deal-with usher who hassles you when you try to take your seat in church, or the co-worker who gets on your last nerve, but the problem is neither. The monster I am referring to is selfishness, and it’s destroying the lives of believers. Religion has set the stage for selfishness to abound in the church, and it’s time to deal with it and eradicate it so the Body of Christ can begin to walk in the “greater works” Jesus spoke about.

Know this: God is love. The very nature of our Father is love. He doesn’t just have it; He
is
it. His love for you was demonstrated when He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for your sins (see John 3:16). I want to point out something very key in this Scripture. It says that He so loved the world that He
gave
. The number one characteristic of love is that it is always concerned with giving to others. It looks for new and creative ways to be a blessing at all times. Contrary to the world’s view of love, which is demonstrated in popular songs
and movies, it isn’t a “mushy” warm and fuzzy feeling. Neither is it some kind of romantic sentiment. No, the God kind of love always has action to back it up. To say that you love someone but are unwilling to give of yourself for that person, according to the Word’s standard, shows your lack of understanding where love is concerned.

Selfishness, on the other hand, takes from others. It isn’t concerned with giving the advantage but rather taking advantage in whatever way it can. That explains why all sin is based in selfishness. No matter what area of the flesh you are dealing with, if you find yourself succumbing to it, you can be assured that selfishness is in operation.

Religion is a counterfeit form of Christianity. Instead of allowing love to flow to meet people’s needs, it places walls around selfishness to protect it and keep it intact. For example, one erroneous religious belief is that doing a bunch of good works will make God love you more. Nothing could be farther from the truth. However, people who do a lot of good works in hopes of getting into God’s good graces may actually be trying to protect feelings of inadequacy or low self-esteem. They may do things to try to impress others rather than out of love for people. What a selfish attitude!
It is an attitude that is concerned with how they appear to others rather than how to please God. It is a self-protective stance that attempts to use church service as a method of self-preservation.

Another selfish religious mind-set is one that believes that the devil makes us sin. Again, this attitude avoids taking responsibility for one’s actions. It also can become an excuse for continuing to miss the mark. Blaming the devil for sinful behavior is actually an attempt to protect the sin in order to continue doing it. It becomes easy to continue indulging in that activity when the devil is used as a scapegoat all the time.

When people are selfish, they want to preserve where they are at that particular time. They don’t want to take the risk of changing because they have grown comfortable in their way of life. Isn’t that how religious people function? They don’t want to change because they fear having to own up to their behavior.

Jesus told the Pharisees that their tradition made the Word of God have no effect (see Matt. 15:3–6). The religious leaders of His day had grown comfortable in their religion. It felt good for them to impose hundreds of laws on the people because it made them look as if they were ultra-spiritual, even though people were walking around poor, sick, and oppressed. When Jesus challenged their teachings, they couldn’t handle it. He was trying to get them to change the way they thought about things so the spiritual needs of the people could be met. Their selfishness prevented them from doing that.

That’s exactly what religion does. It protects selfishness at the expense of others. The people in the pews need the power of the Word to operate in their lives, not a religious display of form. Just as Jesus challenged the Pharisees, we need to challenge one another to break out of tradition and break into the truth of God’s love for us.

If things aren’t working for you, most likely the problem is a love issue. The bottom line is that you have to come away from constantly being concerned about yourself if you expect the Word of God to produce results. God is a giver, and as His children, we should get on the giving side of life as well. That is what walking in love is all about.

Selfishness is the opposite of love, just as fear is the opposite of faith. The two simply cannot coexist. Anytime selfishness is operating in your life, the law of sin and death is actively working to stop the harvest you are asking God to bring to you.

I want you to see something from the Scriptures that demonstrates how selfishness can block God from showing up in your life. Look at Mark 10:17–22:

This young man needed Jesus’ ministry. Obviously, he was going through some things because he asked Jesus what the key to eternal life was. He stated that he knew the Law, the commandments of God. And yet he had no clue as to how to inherit the good life. That sounds like a lot of church folk I know. They know the principles and the methods, but when it comes to really tapping into the abundant, Zoë life, they have no clue. Religion has prevented them from getting understanding.

Jesus told this young man that although he knew the last six commandments, all of which dealt with loving others, when it came to loving God with all of his heart, soul, mind, strength, and possessions, he fell short. Most likely this young man followed the traditions of his religion, yet he was selfish when it came to his personal belongings. He was not willing to let go of his material wealth and follow Jesus. Consequently, his unwillingness to step out of selfishness and reach out to others caused him to miss out on being a part of the greatest ministry on earth. His selfishness was protected by his religion, and he went away more depressed than he was when he came to Jesus.

What have you missed out on because you insisted on
protecting selfishness in your life? Every time God presents you with an opportunity to come out of that way of thinking, a blessing awaits you on the other side of your obedience. Unlike love, selfishness tries to convince you that by obeying God and walking in love, you somehow miss out on something. That’s just a trick of the enemy. The truth is that when you don’t come out of your comfort zone, you miss out on the blessings of God.

In Matthew 22:37–40, Jesus gives the love laws. The first and great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He says that the second great commandment, which is just as weighty as the first, is to love your neighbor as yourself. To violate these commandments puts you in a dangerous position. Under the covenant of grace, we love as God has loved us.

Staying in the “circle of love” places you in God’s protection. In this circle are the blessings of God, which include prosperity, healing, deliverance, and the abundant life. Every promise God has made to you can be found within the confines of the love circle, because He is love!

Outside that circle exists the law of sin and death. How does Satan get you out of the protection of God? He often sends people and situations your way to offend you, or he gets you to operate in selfishness in any capacity. When you get off into this unprotected territory, you are open to his attacks. Because you are on his turf,
he has every right to successfully deter you from the will of God for your life. His fiery darts can penetrate your spirit when you step out of love.

Staying “in the circle” is critical to the quality of life you will lead as a believer; selfish people are never successful. Though they may look like they are on the outside, their souls are sick because God created us to give of ourselves to others so that they may prosper. Selfish people withhold certain areas of their lives from God. As a result, they do not experience the total life prosperity that is described in 3 John 1:2.

Can you see why Jesus said that loving God and your neighbor are the two most important laws? As God’s children, we are to imitate Him (see Eph. 5:1–2), which means loving others as Christ loved us. Living this way is like having an automatic protection plan in place every single day. You don’t have to worry about death, sickness, poverty, and bondage attaching themselves to you when you are actively keeping the commandments and guarding against selfishness.

Many times, as Christians, we hear about walking in love, but we really don’t understand the nuts and bolts of how to have a good “love life” with God and others. Like everything in the kingdom of God, there is a process involved in perfecting the love of God. Just as mind renewal is a daily experience and not a one-time event, so is perfecting the love of God in your life. It is going to
take diligence, effort, and most important, a quality decision to live this type of lifestyle.

The sin question really has a simple answer—get rid of selfishness and perfect the love of God. You see, all sin is selfish. From fornication and adultery to lust and hatred, these are the works of a carnal mind-set that is primarily concerned with fulfilling its own selfish desires. A person who commits fornication is not thinking about the well-being of the person with whom he or she is having sex. He or she isn’t considering the serious spiritual and physical ramifications of that activity.

Similarly, people who have no temperance where eating is concerned will succumb to a spirit of gluttony. Instead of eating to sustain their physical bodies and keep them in optimum health, the focus is on satisfying a selfish, greedy desire. These people aren’t concerned about the effects that their actions will have on their health. God didn’t create the body to be abused through any type of lustful activity. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and should be regarded as such. To violate your body is to demonstrate your selfishness and lack of regard for God and those to whom He has ordained you to be a blessing.

The first step to perfecting the love of God is to make a quality decision. You have to settle the issue forever: as a child of God, you
are
going to walk in love, no matter what. As soon as you do that, be aware that Satan is going to throw everything he can at you to get you to move off your stance of love. But don’t be discouraged. Your big brother, Jesus, went through the same test, and passed! You can pass, too.

I look at the work of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19–21 as the works of selfishness. Without selfishness in operation, these activities have nothing to stand on. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, and wild partying are all the results of a selfish, carnal mind-set. You cut yourself off from the blessings of God when you do these things.

On the flip side of that coin are the fruits of the Spirit, headed up by the love of God. The components of His love include joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. By cultivating these facets of love, you counteract the fruit of the carnal mind and inherit God’s promises.

I suggest that you begin practicing the love of God in the seemingly small areas. For example, you may be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and want to blow your top. But don’t do that! Look at it as an opportunity to develop an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. Let the confession of your mouth lead your mind and actions to line up with God’s love. Instead of cussing out the driver in front of you or blowing your horn, declare that you’ll use the situation to walk in love. Pop a teaching tape in the CD player, or put some praise music on. As you start thanking and praising God for something good He’s done for you, you’ll find your frustration melting away. Or pray in the Spirit, which also helps to keep you in the love circle (Jude 1:20–21).

Another way to perfect God’s love is to actively work on loving your enemies every day. That’s right, love your enemies! There may be people whom you don’t see every day who have offended or hurt you in some way. Or there may be someone you know who doesn’t like you, with whom you really don’t have too much communication. Just because you don’t have regular verbal exchanges with someone doesn’t mean you are off the
hook. This is an opportunity for you to practice loving him or her in the spirit, by praying for and confessing the Word over his or her life.

Now I know that’s hard on your flesh! Who wants to pray for and declare blessings over someone who has offended or hurt you? How you feel doesn’t really amount to a hill of beans. What matters most is what God has said, and He has commanded us to love our neighbors.

At first it will be challenging to pray for the difficult people in your life. But when you set your love thermometer at a specific setting and refuse to let it waver, it will get easier to bless those who have cursed you or used you. This is the heart of walking in love—loving the unlovable. That’s what Jesus did. He prayed for the very people who were crucifying Him, while He was dying on the cross! I don’t know anyone who has had to endure that kind of suffering, and yet Jesus was determined not to violate the commandments of His Father. Because He loved God, He obeyed that second commandment. We are commissioned to do the same.

If you know that you’ve been walking in selfishness, don’t get into condemnation about it. God is faithful and just to forgive you of sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Make a decision to turn away from a selfish lifestyle and make the love of God your way of life. Practice daily on people and situations until the love lifestyle comes naturally to you. Be encouraged that the Holy Spirit will strengthen you when you are weak and help you to stay on course.

Don’t let religion keep you in a position of defeat. God’s power can’t flow through people who are trapped in this way of thinking. The devil would love for you to remain locked into traditional beliefs that actually keep you in bondage. But when you get a revelation of God’s love for you, you’ll see that being a Christian is more than doing all the “churchy” things. It is about a personal love relationship with the Father and Jesus.

When you deal with the excuses that are keeping you bound, you can start to see victory. Selfishness has to be dealt with in order to experience all that God has for you. He is a loving God, and He wants us to be His children of love. Tradition and religion will leave you in lack because the love of God isn’t present there. I invite you to come into the knowledge of this love and experience all that God has for you.