Religious Rehab |

Religious Rehab

This entry is part of a series, my spiritual adventure»

I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me to turn my back on religion.

*gasp*

*crickets*

religious rehab

Have I shocked you? Good! Because I want to tell you about why I’ve made this decision.

In a broad sense, over the past several hundred years, horrendous attoricites have been committed in the name of religion. On a more personal level, being a religious person has proven to be a severe hinderance in my ability to have a relationship with God. I was so caught up in maintaining what had become mindless religious traditions, that I got way off track. I was on autopilot. My spiritual life was stale and lifeless, but for all intents and purposes I looked like I had it all together.

So about 10 weeks ago I checked myself into religious rehab . I am ditching religion and focussing on developing a healthy biblical relationship with God.

Over the past couple of months I’ve learned to recognise the halmarks of religion in my life.

Religion is all about:

rules
compliance
judgement
comparing and measuring
our effort
worrying about how others see me
being busy with church stuff for the sake of looking busy, and not reaching the people around me for God
getting my self worth from doing stuff and being busy
all talk
control.

Religion for me became unbalanced, toxic and limiting.

Here’s what I am learning about living a life of faith that is based on a vital relationship with Christ.

This life is all about:

growth
energy
grace
peace
contentment
being concerned about what God wants me to do
being ready and willing to do what God wants me to do
sharing life with others
healthy relationships
worshipping every moment
action speaking louder than words
measuring myself against God’s standards, not yours.

This life of faith is a holistic approach that permeates all areas of my life. It is a life that is healthy and productive and fulfilling in so many ways.

It’s a way of life that allows me to deal with life’s challenges in a way that prevents freaking out, and facilitates a Godly witness.

This life is challenging and exciting! This life is infectious!

Do yourself a favour and check into religious rehab and watch your world change for the better!

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 9:49 amand is filed under God stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Religious Rehab”

Eddy Says:
August 28th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Thanks for this great post Michelle! There is a huge differnece between ‘religion’ and ‘relationship’ and God wants us to have a relationship with Him, not a religion!

As I read the list of things that ‘religion’ is all about I couldn’t help but wonder if the ‘Church’ today has become far too ‘religious’? It just seems to me that those characteristics are what most people associate the ‘Church’ with and its not how its supposed to be.

I think we need to ask ourselves the hard questions and make the needed changes so we can show the world that God is real, amazing and worth having a relationship with!

It’s got to start with me, as an individual. Am I into religion or relationship? Thanks for sharing your journey!

.-= Eddy´s last blog ..Leadership Lessons from a One Year Old =-.

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Michelle George Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Yeah, I really think that any organisation is a product of it’s members combined with its leadership, and that is particularly true of churches. If they are filled with religious people, then the defining feature of that church will be a religious approach to the organisation. However if the church is full of people who are in vital relationships with God, then that will be evidenced in the way they conduct themselves and the way they impact those around them in the community they’ve been placed in.

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