What is religion? Wikipedia defines it as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

The Bible defines religion like this, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you (James 1:27, NLT).

How do you define religion? All of us are familiar with the I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) as a measure of intelligence. Perhaps there should be an R.Q. (Religious Quotient), but how would it be measured? Religion is man’s way of connecting with God, so any measurement would be from a human perspective.  I prefer not to focus on religion, but on relationship with God and have had the privilege of enjoying that deep, intimate, ever-growing relationship all of my life.  It has provided guidance, joy, comfort, and everything I’ve needed along my journey. A line from an old hymn sums it up; it has given me “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”

Too often people get so busy doing “religious” works that they neglect their daily relationship with God. So when adversity comes, they don’t know how to tap into His riches to get what they need. Much like the people that Jesus spoke about in the seventh chapter of Matthew.

 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws’ (Matthew 7:21-23, NLT).

The key phrase is “I never knew you.”  Knowing someone implies that there is a relationship there. These folks were so busy “doing” that they did not develop a relationship with the Lord.  No doubt they looked very religious, but looks can be deceiving.

Here’s an example. Several years ago my husband and I went to the Sugar Ray Leonard /Thomas Hearns fight.  A fight of that magnitude draws people from all over the world and lots of celebrities – actors, politicians, athletes, entertainers– it was THE sporting event of the season. We met and took pictures with several famous people including Evander Holyfield, Carl Malone, and Stephanie Mills. As we exited the stadium after the fight we noticed that we were walking behind Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick who happened to be chatting with Tom Selleck. Since the crowd was moving slowly I managed to position myself so that my husband could take a picture of me “with” them. It looks like I’m laughing and chatting with my celebrity friends.  Of course the reality is that I was not – I don’t have a relationship with any of them. I just made it look that way.

That’s what happens to many church folks. They do all of the right things and position themselves to look “religious” but in reality they do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Others suffer from misdirected relationships.  They join a church and build a relationship with a group of people; a cell group, choir, Sunday school class or a congregation.  When they get hurt or disappointed by one of these people, they are crushed and want to give up. We should develop relationships with other believers and they can be rich and fulfilling, but cannot take the place of the main relationship.

There is no substitute for a vibrant, intimate one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ. He loves you and wants to spend time with you today, tomorrow and everyday.