RQ: Chapter 1, Grace Amazing, by Steve McVey

Chapter 1: Religion is Now Poison for Us

Religion tries to systematize everything into neat little compartments that readily offer hollow answers for the unanswerable. Jesus never does that. He simply points to Himself and gently whispers, "Believe."

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"Without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6). He couldn't care less about religious ritual void of life. God is in the business of life. Nothing else interests Him. When it is all said and done, God will either raise dead things or else ultimately separate Himself from them as far as He can get. He is interested in living relationships, not dead religion.

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The essence of religion is man's attempt to somehow convince himself that he has jumped through enough hoops for God to give him the approving nod.

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Religion is poison because it kills any opportunity one will ever have to expereience genuine intimacy with God. Religion is a prostitute have sex with a man and telling him it's love, when all the while, deep in his heart, the man knows better. Religion offers the false hope that somehow there is something we can do to impress God enough to cause Him to accept us on the basis of our actions. Religion is what rushes in to fill the vacuum created by the absence of personal intimacy with God. (emphasis mine)

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Yet many believers, who by divine sovereignty have been brought out of Egypt and miraculously placed on The King's Highway, have now filled their tank with the gasoline of religion and their engine with the oil of self-effort and think they are on their way to the land of victorious living. They are often making good speed, but what they don't know is that they are driving in circles. They are pleased with their performance, but don't know they are going nowhere fast.

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Yet if the story of Israel's wandering in the wilderness and their entry into the promised land demonstrates anything, it shows how persistent God is in bringing about the good that He has promised to those who belong to Him.

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His intention from the beginning has been that you should enjoy your faith relationship with Him.