June 1

Ever heard someone say that what we need is less religion and more life in churches today? I appreciate the sentiment but the truth is that there will never be more life unless there is more religion.

Theology is what we believe about God. Religion is what we do in light of those beliefs. I would argue we live in a society that has an abundance of theology but is painfully void of religion, beliefs with few life implications, doctrine with minimal personal expression, convictions that are indiscernible in one's daily living.

Listen to 2 Chronicles 15:15, "All in Judah were happy about this covenant (to live out their beliefs, a religion reflecting their theology), for they had entered into it with all their heart. They earnestly sought after God, and they found him. And the Lord gave them rest from their enemies on every side." And then in 2 Chronicles 16:9a, "The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."

At City Life, we teach there are 6 pursuits that reflect a "whole hearted" and "fully committed" life in light our beliefs: devotion to Jesus, intimacy with God, care of one another, personal transformation, diligence in service, and a life empowered by the Holy Spirit. All of these are promised to us by Christ in His teachings. In fact, they are are related to 6 very specific commands He gave. There is the follow Me command in John 1:43b, the love God command in Mark 12:30, the love each other command in John 15:12, the transformation command in Matthew 5:48, the serve command in Mark 16:15, and the be empowered command in Act 1:8.

Another Bible is never going to be written. We have the sacred text that God intends for us to cherish. But this very Book speaks to our lives being contained in pages of books in Heaven (Psalm 139:16) and may it be that for each of us, our books mirror 2 Chronicles 15:15 and 16:9a, that we lived for God with all our hearts, found by Him to be fully committed, religious to the very end!

Pastor Fred