religion is bondage

​Do you go to church every week? Do you feel uncomfortable if you don't show up one Sunday? Do you worry about what excuse you have to give or what others might think? Are there some religious rituals, ceremonies or traditions that you feel you have to take part in to show you are a committed believer? If any of this is true of your walk as a believer, then you are in religious bondage.
 
See, Christ came to set us free from the rites and rituals of the first testament. There are no more ceremonies upon the altars or the ark of covenant. Today, in this new testament, we are called to a relationship with Jesus. We are to 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.' (Galatians 5:1) 'For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.' (Galatians 5:13)
 
Religion is about doing things; performing certain acts on certain days or at certain times in certain ways and in certain places to make us right or feel right. It gives us a sense of having done our duty and when we don't, we sometimes can feel like we have not fulfilled our part or met the conditions. A relationship with Jesus is about shifting our mindsets, changing and transforming ourselves by learning what is love and how to love through God's love.
 
----------------------------------------------------
 
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:7-10)
 
----------------------------------------------------
'that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,'(Ephesians 3:17) - God loved us first by sending His son for us so that we may in turn love others. In this way, our world may change, and this is what being a believer and follower is all about - having love as a basis for our lives henceforth.
 
----------------------------------------------------
 
Jesus said, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments.' (John 14:15) - If we truly love God, we do not merely believe in Him but also follow His ways.
 
Jesus said, 'Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.' (John 15:13) with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, (Ephesians 4:2) - If we truly have love, we are able to tolerate and put others first before ourselves just as Christ did for us.
 
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. (1 John 5:2) But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. (1 John 2:5) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15) - If we can truly keep God's commandments and keep our word, then we have the love of God in us. Otherwise, it means we love the world more than we love God.
 
----------------------------------------------------
 
Are you a believer of your religion? Are you trapped in religious duty or do you have a relationship with Him who died to set you free? Are you truly renewing your thinking and transforming your ways to be the Christ love-centric way through your relationship with Him?