Why Religion and Being Good Are Not Enough
I’ve attended many funerals that were downright celebrations. Because the deceased loved Jesus (and it was obvious), friends and family grieved for themselves but rejoiced because their loved one was Home. With Jesus.
I’ve attended other funerals that were … well, awkward. No one wants to speak ill of the dead, so efforts are made to say something nice about a person who was anything but nice. They were mean, self-centered, vengeful, and for all we know, they ripped the tags off of mattresses. Yet at their funerals, we try to make them saints with slightly bent halos. No one is fooled though.
But I want to focus on our deceased friends between these two extremes. I’m talking about good people. Nice people. The ones who buy from every kid hustling some fundraiser because their school needs pencils. The kind folks who don’t abandon their shopping carts in the parking space next to them. Y’know, good people.
I saw a survey several years ago that noted people’s belief in eternal punishment diminished as they aged. Why? As we age, we attend more funerals. We’re there memorializing a person who never attended church and never expressed any faith, but we can’t imagine God not allowing them in heaven. After all, they were such good people. We know a lot of people like that. Good people. Maybe even religious people. But no faith in or commitment to Christ.
Surely God will honor their goodness or religious bent, right?
Being good is not enough. Doing right is not enough. Being religious is not enough. Listen to these words from Jonthan Edwards:
“The devil once seemed to be religious from a fear of torment. Luke 8:28, ‘When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.’ Here is external worship. The devil is religious; he prays; he prays in a humble posture; he falls down before Christ, he lies prostrate; he prays earnestly, he cries with a loud voice; he uses humble expressions—‘I beseech thee, torment me not’—he uses respectful, honorable, adoring expressions—‘Jesus, though Son of God most high.’ Nothing was wanting but love.”[1]
We are surrounded by good, religious people, but they express no sincere love for Christ. They may even attend church regularly and do religious acts to meet expectations placed on them, but they are not drawn to or motivated by the love of Christ. Yet when we experience the love of Christ and place our faith in Him, His love draws us to love Him in return—and in turn, to express that love to others. Religiosity is replaced by redemption. Reconciliation. Right behavior motivated by right standing in the love of Christ.
“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another” (1 John 4:9-11).
Drop the religion. Stop trying to be good. Just trust in and embrace the love of Christ—and let His goodness flow through you.
Subscribe to this blog or like our Facebook page. And share this post with others.
If you would like a printable version of this, check out PrintFriendly.
[1] Jonathan Edwards, “Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Sang Hyun Lee (Yale University Press, 1957-2008), 21:171.
