Personalized religion, wrought through lack of studying and understanding.
Posted by Rod Hamilton on Feb 04 2010
It seems that many people who have “come to Christ” have done so by taking on Jesus as the fix-all for life’s problems. Alcoholism, addictions of every kind, marital strife, financial struggles and other things were catalysts for a walk down the aisle to the altar, but what’s often accepted in this type of decision is a hope for a promising future in Christ yet no true repentance or “taking up the cross.” What I see happening so often is that, having taken such an easy theology about our Great Savior, many fall away at the first sign of trouble. Jesus was pretty clear in His parable of the sower in Matthew 13 that this would be the case. These types of decisions for Christ, as Jesus explained in Luke 8, would invariably fall away, as seed that had been planted on the rock. “Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.” (Luke 8:13)
I think that when left with a theology of “easy-believism,” a person will almost always negate the grace of God by building up a religion in order to stay in God’s good grace. Obviously, anyone who takes just a cursory reading of the New Testament should understand that faith is a gift from God and is not based in any way on what we have done or will do nor is it given to us based on anything that the Father knows we’ll do in the future. However, having a deficiency in understanding, the rocky ground guy will strive, as man always has, to please God by works and not by faith. The Bible is clear that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) but the rocky ground guy continues trying. But why does he continue trying even if it’s obvious that the efforts are in vain? Because man has, by his own power, always done religion that way. And the end result of such practices? Eventually, by clinging to bad theology and never surrendering to the rewarding work of becoming disciplined in study, meditation and prayer, the rocky ground guy, realizing he can never live up to the expectations, throws his hands up in futility and “gives up” on God.
Our religion is based solely upon our faith in Jesus Christ. We are justified the moment we believe. But grace, by design, baffles the unregenerate man. In the flesh, grace does not and cannot make sense. It is only by the Spirit of God that we can truly believe and develop an understanding of the things of God. Martin Luther said that “justification is the doctrine by which the church stands or falls.” At no time in history has this proven to be more true than today.