Meditating on the Church/Christ relationship in Ephesians 6...
I've always felt a little queasy about simple statements that are intended to sum up thoughts. One that pertains to this passage is the "Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship." Ephesians 6 brings up a few relationships, including the marriage relationship--the one I was meditating on this morning.
Religion is an institution. It is the establishment. In that sense, religion is a lot like marriage. First comes love, then comes marriage. And so first comes the relationship with Christ, then comes religion.
You would not say that married people have no relationship with each other. They may have a poor relationship or a love/hate relationship, but they have a relationship. So truly religious people (and unreligious for that matter) have a relationship with Christ. The question that must be evaluated is this: What's your relationship like?
Are you and Christ in Ricky & Lucy beds? Different rooms? Are you trying to be friends with benefits?
Sometimes it's easy to blame religion when people are the ones who make relational decisions.
I've always felt a little queasy about simple statements that are intended to sum up thoughts. One that pertains to this passage is the "Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship." Ephesians 6 brings up a few relationships, including the marriage relationship--the one I was meditating on this morning.
Religion is an institution. It is the establishment. In that sense, religion is a lot like marriage. First comes love, then comes marriage. And so first comes the relationship with Christ, then comes religion.
You would not say that married people have no relationship with each other. They may have a poor relationship or a love/hate relationship, but they have a relationship. So truly religious people (and unreligious for that matter) have a relationship with Christ. The question that must be evaluated is this: What's your relationship like?
Are you and Christ in Ricky & Lucy beds? Different rooms? Are you trying to be friends with benefits?
Sometimes it's easy to blame religion when people are the ones who make relational decisions.