Tuesday, September 14, 2021
“A Little Religion”
“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT).
Jesus was the perfect example, yet His own disciple, Judas Iscariot, not only failed to believe, but he turned against Jesus and sold Him out for 30 pieces of silver.
One of the original Twelve, Judas Iscariot heard the Sermon on the Mount with his own ears, saw Lazarus resurrected from the dead, and watched as Jesus walked on the water. Judas was there when Jesus gave thanks for five barley loaves and two small fish and then fed five thousand people with them.
He also heard Jesus teach about the wheat and the tares growing together, and how the tares looked like wheat but were imitations of it. That certainly applied to Judas. But instead of turning to God, he became filled with anger, jealousy, and bitterness.
We find an interesting parallel to Judas in the Old Testament: Saul, the first king of Israel. God called him to be the king and initially blessed him. Saul started well. But then he made some small compromises that led to larger ones, and ultimately God rejected him.
The Bible tells us that an evil spirit began to torment King Saul, but a young shepherd named David played a stringed instrument for him. And while David played and sang worship songs to the Lord, the demons wouldn’t torment Saul. It causes us to wonder why the king wouldn’t believe in the God that David worshiped.
I think there are still people like Saul today, unbelievers who feel they maybe need “a little religion” to get through a current trauma or crisis. They will go to church every now and then. They might even sing some of the worship songs and read a little bit of the Bible.
But ultimately, they don’t just need “a little religion.” Instead, they need a lot of Jesus in their lives.
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