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A religious relationship
February 10, 2008 - Ian
It is easy to be religious here in Indonesia. This is an observation that I have
made whilst living in Indonesia for just a short time. In Australia the
religious affiliation question is non compulsory in the national census. You do
not have to declare what religion you are in Australia. But in Indonesia you
must declare to whom you belong as it appears on many official personal
documents –Are you Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, or Catholic? Here in
Indonesia you must have a religious label. But does this mean that here in
Indonesia you will be more godly? Will God simply be pleased with a label?
No! Jesus battled with the religious leaders and the people of Israel who
thought that just having the religious label of ‘Children of Abraham’, was
enough. A religious label is nothing to God and religious affiliation alone is
meaningless to him, but a relationship with him through Jesus – now there is the
way to know you are fully approved and accepted by God.
If you are reading this you are likely to be religiously affiliated with the
Anglicans in Indonesia. God wants you to be more than that. God wants you, and
me too, to be in a growing relationship with him. He desires us to be in a
religious relationship. He wants to us to have more than simply a label of being
Christian but a real friendship with Him, a real family relationship of Father
to child.
Does God know that of you? When we are in relationship with others then we will
talk about that other person, friends will know that we care about them. How
often would you tell people at work that you went to church on the weekend? How
often would you confess to others that you pray? How frequently do you make a
stand for Jesus when the refreshment/morning tea/lunch time work conversation
comes around to matters of faith or morals?
Jesus is alive and active, he is the Lord of the universe. Can others see him at
work in us? Or do we only have a religious label without a relationship?
Ian
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