Religion vs. Relationship

"It's about relationship not religion."

I've heard this statement several times and said it several times as well, but my friend brought up the fact that religion is actually something different than what we think of as religion. I think of religion as going to church, sitting in a pew, listening to a pastor talk. I think of religion as being told that I must go to church or I am a heathen. I think of religion on all these terms and more. But it's interesting when we find out what God says about religion.

James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

I find it interesting that God doesn't say that religion is going to church every Sunday and living in a rigid organized belief system. Religion is actually not what we have made it out to be. Religion, that is pure and unadulterated, faultless, is to look after orphans and widows in their distress. AND to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. There goes the theory that it's about relationship and not religion.

Now here's the thing, often times, there are people, and I've been guilty of this as well, that we will begin to do things because it's the "right" thing to do, it's the
"Christian" thing to do. And I find it interesting that the verse in James says, not just to look after widows and orphans but it actually says "keep oneself from being polluted by the world." What does it mean to keep yourself from being polluted by the world? It means to be living a life that is holy and righteous before God.

I think maybe this verse reads like that because, God knows our selfish tendencies. Sometimes as humans, we want the glory for doing something. We want to feel good about ourselves so we begin to do things for our own glory rather than for God's glory. We begin to take care of the widows and orphans out of selfish desires. I really do think that when we have a pure relationship with God, as we continue to seek His ways, that out of that our love and compassion for others will grow and we will begin to desire to do things for others not because we ourselves have something to offer but rather because God has given us something to offer others, and we want to share the pure love that God has for us. We learn we can love the way He loves because of His grace. Because He pours into us His love, we can go love the world more effectively than trying to love out of our own human love, that isn't as good as His love by any means, I don't think we can even compare it with His love.

I think that religion and relationship were meant to work hand in hand. Through our relationship with God, we can walk in true religion, the religion that God accepts.