Religion has a way, interestingly enough, of damning the soul, a
truth I learned long ago. I grew up with a very legalistic understanding
of Christianity. I still have etched in my memory the times I would
answer the altar call at my grandmother’s church in order to regain
again the salvation I had lost the week before. The gospel I heard
preached was that Jesus saves but it is up to each individual to stay
saved by a series of duties as well as the impossible task of remaining
sinless. The idea was cultivated in me that if I sinned even once I was
lost and destined to @#!*% . This mixed with some unfortunate
circumstances pertaining to the birth defects that I inherited, caused
me to begin to hate God. The hatred that had been cultivated over those
years would not be realized until I received Christ later in life. This
hatred seems to be a bit of an oddity in hindsight given the path that
God has lead me to. Yet, it was religion that played a major role in
causing me to hate God.
Such a perversion of the
gospel instilled in me neurotic emotions, bitterness, hatred, and a
volcanic anger. Fortunately, though, this is not where the story ends,
which is the beautiful thing about the power of the Gospel. Christ, when
fully realized, has a way of melting the heart of the hardest hearted
jade. To see Jesus dying for my sins is to see the most incredible act
of love I know. R. C. Sproll was right when he said, “The sweetest
fragrance, the most beautiful aroma that God has ever detected emanating
from this planet, was the aroma of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus that
was offered once and for all on the cross.” It was at the cross that I
was able to let go the condemnation, insecurity, and a warped view of
the Creator. This all took place as a result of letting go the salvation
by works nonsense, and embrace what the Bible teaches. George Whitfield
was shocked at the idea that someone would believe a salvation by works
stating, “What! Get to heaven on your own strength? Why, you might as
well try to climb to the moon on a rope of sand!” The truth is, is that
it is difficult to rest on God’s grace alone given mankind’s propensity
to give in to pride and demand that we can save ourselves. As Sproll
correctly points out, “we don’t want to live by a heavenly welfare
system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We
like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there.”
This idea must be abandoned for one to have eternal life.
What
I came to believe on that night in October 1989 sitting in my
grandmother’s family room, was that Jesus Christ died for me and I
simply needed to repent of my sin and trust Him completely for
salvation. In doing so, I would not have to earn my salvation. As a
result of trusting Christ alone, I no longer doubt God’s love for me and
I have given up on religion completely. You see religion seeks to reach
up to God and try to get God’s approval. Jesus, however, reached down,
paid the penalty for my sin, and extended to me his offer of salvation. I
didn’t have to be good enough, I just needed to let go of my pride,
repent of my sin, and allow Christ to come in my heart. This is how I
lost my religion and found Jesus. As a result, today I spend my days not
trying earn God’s approval, but enjoying the relationship that I now
have with God.
