In God's economy there are only two religions. Instead of using the word
"religion" we can also use the term "belief system", ... so there are only two belief
systems in the world. Every thought, every philosophy, everything that is
spoken and everything we hear is rooted and based in either one of the two
belief systems. Both religions are totally different from each other.
Did you know that God doesn't think in gray
areas? God only thinks in Life & Death, ... it's either a blessing or a
curse, it's either God's will or not God's will, it's either Truth or it's
falsehood, it's either divine good or it's evil. This principle was also
taught by Jesus in
Matthew 5:37 and
Matthew 12:30.
"I have set before you life and death,
blessing and curse. Choose life." ―Deuteronomy
30:19
People say, "Now hold on a minute, there are many religions in the world. There's
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and so on, ... aren't
we all praying to the same God? Aren't there more than just two belief
systems in the world?" No, when it comes right down to it, there are only
two belief systems in the world today. Yes, the one religion may come in
a different package, a different wrapping paper, or in a different box,
but the content is the same, it doesn't change, ... it's either this
belief system or the other belief system.
Now, one belief system is self centered and teaches what man can do to please God and how mankind can find acceptance before God.
But it's all self centered, the effort, the performance of a human being
to please whatever god their belief system worships. And sadly, we see
this type of belief system throughout all the so-called religions in the
world. There's always a ritual, a set of rules, a rigid creed and so on,
prescribed to followers of such a religion, what they can and should do
to impress their god. The emphasis is always on self effort and
performance, ... what man can do for God.
On the other hand we have this other religion or belief system.
And this one is centered in God and what He has done for mankind. It
eliminates any self effort or performance, but instead it lets God do
the work and only glorifies God and not men for any work accomplished.
Although God is concerned about an individual, a person needs to make a
personal decision to accept the gift from God. This religion or belief
system is solely based and centered in God Himself, instead of the
performance or the efforts by an individual.
You can find the first belief system, the one that is self centered
virtually everywhere. Even in Christianity this system of self effort
and therefore self centeredness can be found in many places. Every
thought, every attitude, every philosophy, every sentence is either
based in God's value system or it's based apart from God in a self
effort/performance system.
As human beings, God invites us constantly to learn of Him and to
freely receive His value system and to become part of His "religion" so
to speak, ... although this is not really a religion, but rather a
personal relationship with God freely offered through His Son Jesus
Christ. Now let's take a look what the work of God really is. And let's
have Jesus Christ Himself answer that question.
"
'What can we do to perform the works of God?' they asked." ―John
6:28
"Jesus
replied, 'This is the work of God: that you believe in the One He has
sent.' " ―John
6:29
▀
IT'S ALL THE GIFT (GRACE) OF GOD
Even the faith that we have is a gift from God. In John 1:9
we learn that every person is endowed with God consciousness at birth
and with the capacity to believe in God. As we hear the Word of God
specific faith in God is developed starting in
Romans 1:16 and onward in
Romans 10:17.
So this principle of one religion or belief system that is God
centered is in fact opposite to the other religion in the world that
teaches that mankind can do something to please some god or the God by
their own efforts and performance.
If we understand that each thought and every word, every
philosophy, etc. is rooted in either the self-centered belief system or
in the God-centered belief system, then we learn a type of discernment
as to what comes from God and what comes from another source. By the way,
the other source is a source we don't want to tap into, and the Word of
God encourages us to only receive thoughts from God and not from the
other source.
"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up
against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive
to the obedience of Christ." ―2
Corinthians 10:5
We call the God-centered belief system the "religion" of Grace
if we want to call it a "religion" since it's a relationship with God
through Jesus Christ, but here the word "religion" for the God-centered
belief system is used for illustration purposes only. The self-centered belief system is
in fact a religion and it is called the religion of works.
"But if it is by
Grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise Grace is no
longer Grace. But if it be of works, then is it no longer Grace: otherwise
work is no longer work." ―Romans
11:6
So the two religions or belief systems if you prefer to call it that,
don't mix. These don't go together, it's either the one or the other.
Now sadly, billions and billions of people in the world today are caught
up in a self-centered religion. They don't know the true Grace of God
and therefore they miss out on many, many blessings and they even miss
out on an eternal destiny in the presence of God.
Also, the quality of life is drastically reduced when someone is
caught up in the false religion of works. It's not a fun lifestyle to
constantly be under pressure to perform and to do something to please an
abstract God somewhere hoping for His approval. I don't know about you,
but I sure would hate to live that way. Well, it doesn't have to be that
way and God's belief system is freely offered to everybody and it's
available for the taking. And so much comes with it. Most importantly an
eternal destiny in the presence of God, not because of what we have
done, but because of what He has done and what He has already
accomplished for us.
Here's a simple illustration of God's belief system and these
illustrations are not really comparable to the awesome work God has done
for us and what He wants to give us freely. But just to get a little
glimpse or picture or a basic idea how God's belief system works. Such a
simple illustration would be e.g. the auto pilot in an airplane
which takes the plane automatically without any effort by the pilots to
its destination, or e.g. the cruise control in a car. And I love cruise
control, ... it's such a blessing to have it. You just push the button
at a certain speed and there you go the car is automatically controlling
by itself the fuel management and the speed control including braking
functions without any effort
by the driver in this regard. It's really simple.
The message is, let's trust in God and let's believe in what
God has to offer us, instead of trying to figure out what we can do in
our own strength and within the realm of our own ideas, efforts and
performance to please God. And this addresses also folks, brothers and sisters
in Christ. We need to stay Christ centered, Christ focused, to enjoy the
Abundant Life that God has promised us and He wants to give us freely in John 10:10.
And we will never possess and enjoy God's Abundant Life which is freely
available to everyone, if we try to obtain this quality of life
ourselves, either through some sort of ritual, some works, some
performance or effort, and so on.
No, it's available freely for the individual who puts his/her trust
in Christ, because as we read in
John 6:29, the work of God is to believe in Him Who He
has sent, i.e. we believe in Jesus Christ.
And yes we read in
Ephesians 2:10 about the good works
we were created for, but it's solely in Christ and through Christ that
such works are accomplished.
"For
it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will
and to act for His good purpose." ―Philippians 2:13
So it's all God! This is God's kind of belief system, it's called
Grace, and it's so much better than the hard work and self condemning
and self destructive religion of self effort.
And I guess by now you know who the author of that other
self-centered religion is. Yes, that's right, it's Satan who wants to
deceive the world into falling into the trap of the self-centered
religion, so that people don't believe (trust) in God and in His Word and so
that people are occupied with themselves and not with God and His
provisions.
If you're occupied with yourself, even if it is for the purpose of
somehow trying to please God or doing something humanly speaking good, but apart from God's will
and God's way how this is
accomplished, then you're wasting valuable time and energy, and you're
missing out on God's abundant blessings here on earth and perhaps even on an
eternity in the presence of God. Let's be serious and stop playing
games, and let's consider this Truth from now on.
