"So...How Religious Are You?"

One of my coworkers surprised me with that question the other day. People at Chipotle don't really seem to talk about spiritual matters very much. I looked up, shocked, not sure what exactly to answer, and somehow coughed up the words "well, I'm a Christian...and I go to church--but I mean I believe that going to church doesn't get me to heaven haha um.." and spewed up a few other things about my faith.

I kicked myself as soon as the conversation was over. I mean, come on. All the talk at church about how to share our faith and that's the most I can come up with? I just wasn't expecting the question. How religious am I?

To be honest, I really don't really know.

--If religious means belonging to a church denomination, then I'm religious.
--If religious means going to church on a regular basis, then I guess I’m pretty religious.

--If religious means reading my Bible daily, then I try to be pretty religious.

--If religious means following each of the 10 commandments then…I guess I try to be religious but I do fail. often. 

But even though I try to fulfill these religious requirements, I don’t necessarily know that I am religious. You decide.

--I am a Christian. 

--I go to church every Sunday morning, some Sunday nights, and even an occasional Bible study. But I don’t do it because I’m commanded to do so. I do it for the fellowship, for the sermon, for the music, and for the worship.
--I attempt to read my Bible and pray every day, but I don’t do it because I’m commanded to by my religion. I do it because I want to hear what God has to say, and I want to get to know Him more and more.

--Sure, I try to be a “good person”, as much as a sinful human being can be a good person. I make mistakes. A lot. But basically my life revolves around these truths.

1. I’m a sinner. I don’t want to sound pessimistic here, but it’s true. I am. I don’t think I’ve lived even one day of my life perfectly free of sin.
2.  God says that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). I’ve earned death. I deserve to go to hell. That sounds harsh, but he’s a perfect, sinless God and sin is detestable in His sight.
3. Jesus, God’s son lived a perfect life and died on the cross. When he did this, he paid the price for my sins once and for all, so that I am simultaneously sinless and a sinner. I sin, but my sins are washed away through Jesus’ sacrifice. (which is so cool!)

I want these things to dictate the way I live my life. I’m not a “good person” because I’m trying to earn God’s favor and pay my way into heaven. It doesn’t work that way. No, He’s done so much for me that I want to obey His commands.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I do all of the things that "religious" people do, but having faith is more than having religion. You could be religious about anything. (There was one year that I religiously followed the Twins). But my faith is more personal than just following all of the laws, because goodness knows I break them, and going to church and reading my Bible, because I certainly haven't been super diligent about that. I'm no scribe, or pharisee of the new testament, following every law to the letter. But I do have faith in Jesus Christ--faith that he took my place in death and has given me the gift of eternal life. Maybe I'm religious about that!

Jesus commanded His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations”. I want to share my faith with others so that they too can know the goodness of God but...I’m timid. I always get tongue tied and nervous. Anyway, this has been my response. I still don’t know how “religious” I am. I guess I wanted to write this and hopefully decide while writing it, but that didn’t happen. I have decided though that, “how religious are you” was the wrong question to ask. The term religious threw me off. Looking back, the correct answer should have been a solid “I don’t know. Here’s what I do believe”.