religions...spirituality...

Acts 17:16-34
Paul visits Athens while he waits for Silas and Timothy in Berea. While he is there, he walks around the city and marketplace discovering the people. He “reasons with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks in the synagogues, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”

One of the things he discovers is that the people of Athens are “in every way very religious.” They even have an altar in the marketplace for an unknown god. The poets of Athens even write of us as being God’s offspring. They appear to be open-minded. There are even some men of the Areopagus who consider themselves to be the custodians of teachings that introduce new religions and foreign gods. Paul knew that being religious wasn’t enough and we cannot capture Him in objects to worship. He also explains that in the past God overlooked the idol worship of Gentiles (He didn’t overlook it for the Jews, as seen in many accounts of the Old Testament). No longer will the Gentiles’ worship of idols and other gods be overlooked by God. We are all held accountable for our decisions and there will come a time where we will have to answer to God for our decisions.

Does some of this sound familiar to you? Aren’t we encouraged in this day to be open-minded and tolerant of other religions and spiritual practices? People are even described as being spiritual and this is a positive comment and sometimes a compliment or a way to tolerate your form of worship. This is not what Paul is saying here in Acts. Not all forms of religion/spirituality are acceptable to God. We must examine what we are choosing to practice and how we practice it. We may go to a church that speaks of Christ but is it a form of religion for us, going through the motions or a love relationship with Jesus where we are seeking to know Him more and love Him well?

Don’t get caught up in religion and spirituality and be deceived that it is enough. Jesus doesn’t simply want you to know that He lived here on earth and ascended to heaven, He wants you to know that He came to earth especially for you to make a way for you to follow Him to heaven. He wants YOU to be with Him in heaven. That’s why He died on the cross and rose again. He paid the price for your sin, my sin, so we wouldn’t have to and so we could one day be with Him in heaven. This isn’t religion; it’s discovering who Jesus is and why He loves us so much and how this can make a difference in your life like no other form of religion or spiritual practice can.