I’m going to define religion as man’s attempt to get to God through rules as opposed to relationship. Honestly, I feel like I’m pretty good at the religion thing. In the 12 years that I would describe myself as being a Christian, there haven’t been many days that I’ve neglected to get in the Bible. I love praying and I don’t really consider it to be that difficult of a discipline. I’ve led missions trips, fasted and read tons of spiritual development books. I have 2 Masters degrees and the list could keep on going. Like I said, I feel like I’m pretty good at religion.

There is a point however, where religion dies. You see, there are a number of things that I can accomplish on my own but at some point that list runs out. I can absorb tons of information but I can’t transform my own heart. I can work on not worrying but I can’t usher God’s supernatural peace into my soul. I can do a bunch of good things but I can’t earn entrance into heaven on my own. I can try to focus on pure thoughts but I can’t usher true purity into my heart. I’m sure you get the idea. You can try to be positive and you can take medication but you can’t manufacture true and authentic joy. You can be nice and courteous to those around you but you can’t fill yourself with perfect and sacrificial love.

This is the ground where religion dies. Religion is great if you merely want a life of performance and success by the standards of the crowd. But if you want a life of true value….of true significance….of true impact…of eternal consequence…then religion must die. What takes the place of religion? A real relationship with God. The kind of relationship where you put the pretenses aside and really open up. Where you allow yourself to experience his life-transforming grace. Whether or not you do that depends on what you want out of life. If worldly success is your highest aim, then look no further than religion. If you see how empty and dry that course would end up becoming, then religion must die so that relationship can rise.