Jesus is Greater Than Religion

Like every other Sunday, this morning found me at Brazos Fellowship. I love this church. For years, after I graduated high school and left home, I struggled with going to church. Not because I didn't want to. I just didn't feel comfortable in the ones I went to. So I quit going. And I hated every second of it. I knew I should be in church, fellowshipping with God, but I wasn't.

Finally, about 5 years ago, I'd had enough. I had gotten a couple fliers in the mail about a new church, and it sounded good, but I was nervous to go. Then during a meeting with my wedding photographer, we got to talking, and he mentioned that he attended this church and I should check it out. This was probably late 2005/ early 2006. Brazos Fellowship was meeting in the cafeteria of a local middle school. I went. I looked for Art and Connie, my wedding photographers...never did manage to run into them there, but there was more than one service, and weekends are prime wedding time.

I went sporadically for about a year, but I liked it. I enjoyed the freshness that the church offered, the realness. I enjoyed the senior pastor, Will Lewis, who seemed on fire for God and His people.

In 2007, the church got a new building...an old night club behind a Wendy's. I'm still blown away by the story of how the church came to acquire the building. Totally God. I was still going sporadically.

Shortly after my oldest daughter was born I realized that, while my heart had never turned from God, being a "sporadic" church-goer wasn't how I wanted to raise my children. It wasn't the picture of God I wanted them to know. I wanted them to know God. To really know Him, and this required some conviction and a case of "Putting on my Big Girl Panties and dealing with it." So, with baby in tow, we went.

We were greeted, for several weeks, by Michelle. I've told her before, but I don't know that she'll ever know how much of an impact her warm welcomes meant to me. In my insecurity, I needed to hear God. I needed, desperately, for Him to tell me He needed me here. And through Michelle's words, her warm welcomes and smiles, He did just that.

I didn't feel weird. I didn't feel awkward. I didn't feel like a visitor. I felt Home. Finally, after so many years, I felt at home again. This was, indeed, where God wanted me.

But it's hard to break old habits. And warm beds, and soft blankets, are intoxicating. I still went sporadically. But Will's messages always washed over me like warm water, welcoming me back. Week after week, I heard God through Will's words, and saw His love in Will's actions. But I felt Satan pulling at me, telling me that Sunday morning sleep was still okay.

But it wasn't with me. I decided to dig my heels in, stick out my tongue at Satan and say, "No." I got plugged into a women's group and a marriage group-both Bible studies. And, not knowing anyone there but Michelle, who had invited me, I went. And God honored my obedience. And Satan was forced to admit defeat...because he's sucky and a loser. :)

...Let me make it clear that, to this day, I'm still working on my walk. And I still struggle with getting out of bed in the morning. I did today. Luckily, God has blessed me with a new daughter, someone else to fight for. And, even if, in my groggy morning state, I can't come to that clarity, I still have to get up to feed her. So it's kind of a win-win.

The longer I attended Brazos Fellowship, the more I learned about God, and about how deeply this church, this body of Christ, cares for people. I met Kristen, who cried with me over struggles and sadnesses that we both shared. We leaned on each other and trusted in God's word. I met Rebecca, whose road to God was broken and twisted, who had been shunned by other "Christians". I met Chuck and Melissa, who led a marriage Bible study and made no bones about the struggles that their marriage faced; how they were in the process of a divorce when God began to work in their hearts and mend their lives.

All of these people were broken. Like me. I could list so many more sweet, sweet friends whose roads to God did not come easily. ..And I felt so blessed that I was lucky enough to be led to Christ at an early age by my parents. It was something I didn't have to fight, tooth and nail like my sweet new friends had had to do. ...That's what I thought. But I was wrong. Because I was fighting. Although my past seemed smooth enough, I was having to fight for the relationship I wanted with Christ, something I had allowed Satan to whittle away at for years.

I still attend Brazos Fellowship, and I am have never met a group of people who, in my opinion, work so hard to live out what Christ has asked us to do:  to be his body. To be his hands and feet. To be a city on a hill, a light in the darkness. God is truly at work here.

And what I love most about this Body. More than anything else. Is that these people know that being a Christian is not about a religion. It's not about rules. It's not an "I gotcha". It is about a RELATIONSHIP. A relationship with the Savior who died. Who took my place. Your place. To bridge the gap between a perfect God and a sinful man.

I have been asked in recent months about my relationship with God. I have been challenged by people who question a God whose people would wage wars in His name. Is he not a God of love and acceptance? they would say. Religion is what is wrong with this world today. People are judgemental, and they base it on God and religion.

And in my heart, I know the answer to this. I know that God is not about religion. He is about a relationship. While God clearly makes it clear that to gain eternal life, you must put your faith in Him and repent from your ways, it His kindness and grace that draw us near; not fear or rules. He doesn't condone violence against others.

My heart is broken that people feel otherwise. That people would be turned off of church because of people who call themselves Christians. But we are people. We are sinful. We are imperfect. And we cannot pretend to know the ways of God, and God, in His perfection, should not be judged by what we think we know about Him. ...But in my heartache, it is sometimes difficult to find the words to say to defend my God, who I know is perfect, and pure, and full of love for me--for the world.

Today at churched, we watched the following video. And I feel like it answers these claims head-on. If you don't know the Lord, or you have turned your back on Him, because of people--imperfect people--please, please take time to watch this. Please take time to consider that God is bigger than our imperfections. That He desperately loves us and seeks and longs after a relationship with us. And leave here knowing that Jesus is greater than religion.