I Don't Want to Be "Religious"

The following are notes that I took in church this past Sunday while listening to a great message by Rick Buck, the Pastor at Emmanuel Church in Barrie, Ontario. 

Religion is never a good substitute for love of God and others. 

Love God passionately and others selflessly If God truly has our heart then we will do this.  We should never be focused on being religious, but rather on simply loving God and loving others as He loves us, for when we do this, we are living as Christ calls us to.  We will be in the position to live for Him and be used by Him as He sees fit.

It is about relationship not religion.  The acts that we do for God needs to be from love and devotion to Him not out of "religious duty" for that is foolish and meaningless. 

I don't want to be seen as a religious person.  I want to be seen, and to be a person who is in absolute love with God and who's actions are always a reflection of that love.  The Bible is not about mechanics, it is about an amazing relationship with God.  And this makes sense because if you look at any relationship, it is always about the meaningful experiences you have with that other person.  If relationships were about "mechanics" or "rituals" which had to be performed, then the relationship would not be meaningful.

And a true relationship with God must be about what we can do for Him, not about what He can do for us.  And the cool thing about this is that when we pursue God in this way it is only then that we can truly benefit from the relationship with Him.  But when our focus is on us and what we can gain then we will not fully benefit from the relationship as we could/should.
 
One of the biggest strategies of satan is to attempt to get us complacent in our relationship with God.  It is an attempt to get our relationship to be surface level and about acts of "religious duty".  He wants us to feel like being a Christian is about following very specific ritualistic guidelines (i.e. read your Bible for 30 minutes every night - any less and you aren't a Christian).  The reason why he wants us to think this way is because such guidelines are meaningless, annoying and leave us feeling empty rather than excited.  God wants us to be excited about the relationship we have with Him, and it is a very exciting thing when understood and pursued the appropriate way - and that way is to develop a meaningful relationship with Him which is based on love for Him, and love for others.