Being Religious

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.” It sounds good, and there’s truth in it—but I’m not convinced it tells the whole story.

If we define religion simply as rituals, traditions, and practices that help us relate to God, then yes—I am a religious person. And I believe every follower of Jesus is, too.

The reality is this: we cannot relate to God in the same way we relate to friends and family. We don’t see Him physically. We don’t sit across the table from Him. Religion—our practices, rhythms, and habits—is one of the primary ways we express our love for God and stay connected to Him.

In Scripture, especially in Exodus and Leviticus, God gave Israel very specific instructions for worship. Sacrifices, festivals, priestly duties—all of it was intentional. God provided concrete practices that helped His people approach Him and reflect His holiness.

At the same time, many religious practices developed through tradition. They aren’t commanded in Scripture, but they help shape our worship and community. Celebrating Christmas, meeting in church buildings, singing certain songs—these traditions can enrich our relationship with God when they point us to Jesus.

As followers of Christ, we recognize that many of the laws given to Israel were specific to their covenant relationship with God. We don’t offer animal sacrifices anymore because Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Instead, we remember His death through the Lord’s Supper. We no longer keep the Sabbath as Israel did, yet we gather weekly for worship, rest, and renewal.

Traditions and rituals still matter because they help us remember, express, and practice our faith.

But there’s another essential purpose for religion: to help us change.

Christianity isn’t just about relating to God—it’s about becoming the person God created us to be. The danger comes when we confuse performing religious actions with spiritual transformation.

James makes this point very clearly:

“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

— James 1:26–27 (NLT)

James spends much of his opening chapter reminding us that trials, God’s wisdom, and God’s Word are all tools God uses to shape our lives. But rituals alone—going through the motions—don’t produce transformation. If our practices don’t lead us to self-control, compassion, and purity, then something is missing.

Our religion becomes worthless when it is disconnected from faith.

Faith is what gives meaning to our worship, traditions, and spiritual disciplines. Without faith:

• religion becomes empty routine
• trials feel pointless and destructive
• Scripture becomes nice advice rather than life-giving truth

Faith—our allegiance to King Jesus—is what opens our hearts to God’s transforming work. God cannot change us if we will not trust Him. We can participate in every religious activity available and still remain unchanged.

So in the end, the question isn’t, “Am I religious?”

The better question is: “Am I faithful?”

Who am I trusting?

Who am I committed to?

Who has my heart?

If the answer isn’t Jesus—and if we aren’t willing to trust Him with our lives—then our religion might be little more than hollow ritual.

But when faith and practice come together, religion becomes something beautiful. It becomes a rhythm of grace—a way of living that shapes us into the likeness of Christ.

Point to Ponder:

Religion without faith cannot transform us. Faith expressed through obedience and love is what makes our worship meaningful.

Question to Consider:

How is your faith shaping the way you practice your relationship with God this week?

Paul’s Ponderings is a blog dedicated to reflecting on Scripture and encouraging believers to live out their faith with love and purpose.

Living in Light, Love, and Truth: Living with Eternal Life

1 John 5:13–21

If you pull out a dollar bill, you’ll see four familiar words printed on the back: “In God We Trust.” It’s our national motto. We print it on our money. We claim it as part of our identity.

But according to the latest General Social Survey, those four words no longer describe the way most Americans actually live. When people were asked how confident they were that God really exists, only 50%—just half—said they believe in God without any doubts. Thirty years ago that number was 65%, and it’s been sliding ever since. Among young adults the shift is even more dramatic: only 36% now say they are certain God exists.

So we live in a country where our currency declares trust in God, but our culture increasingly doesn’t know whether God is even there. Doubt is growing. Fear is growing. Confusion is growing.

Which raises a deeper question: Where does real confidence come from?

According to the apostle John, confidence doesn’t come from slogans or cultural heritage. It certainly doesn’t come from our feelings. Confidence comes from a Person—Jesus—and what He has already done for us. In his final words of 1 John, John reminds the church what they can know with certainty. And these same truths anchor us today.

We Can Be Confident That We Have Eternal Life

(1 John 5:13–15)

John tells us exactly why he wrote this letter: “so that you may know that you have eternal life.” We don’t have to guess. We don’t have to wonder. We don’t have to live in spiritual uncertainty.

How can we know? John points to two essential realities:

1. Our faith in King Jesus, the unique Son of God.
2. Our love for God and for one another.

Faith and love aren’t abstract ideas—they’re evidence of new life. And because we belong to God, we also have confidence in prayer. When our allegiance is aligned with Jesus, our desires begin to reflect God’s desires. We pray according to His will, and John assures us: God hears us. As a Father, He gives what we need, even if it looks different than what we asked for.

Eternal life isn’t a future prize; it’s a present reality. And it brings confidence.

We Can Be Confident That Sin Is Evil—and That God Rescues Us From It

(1 John 5:16–19)

John turns next to one of the more challenging passages in his letter—praying for those caught in sin.

There are sins that lead to repentance, where guilt and sorrow eventually draw someone back to God. These we should pray for boldly. But John also acknowledges a deeper, more hardened rebellion—willful rejection of God, the kind embraced by the false teachers troubling the early church. Their hearts were closed to the Spirit. Prayer for them may not change their course.

Why is this important? Because confidence in God awakens seriousness about sin. Followers of Jesus don’t make sin a lifestyle. We confess our sins. We seek forgiveness. We fight against temptation because God’s love has taken hold of us.

John contrasts two spiritual realities:

1. We are God’s children, shaped by His love, Spirit, and Word.
2. The world lies under the influence of the evil one, shaped by the spirit of anti-Christ.

So we remain alert. Confident—but not careless.

We Can Be Confident About Jesus—The True God and Eternal Life

(1 John 5:20–21)

John closes with clarity: Jesus has given us the fullest revelation of God. The Old Testament gave glimpses of God through the law, but Jesus shows us God’s heart through love. And because of Him, we can have a genuine relationship with God—walking in love, faith, and loyalty to King Jesus.

This fuller knowledge of God leads to one final command:

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Idols aren’t just statues. They’re false ideas of God. Distorted pictures of Jesus. Voices that seduce our loyalty away from the King—just as the temples and false teachers tried to sway the early church.

Confidence in Jesus means refusing all competing allegiances.

Living With Eternal Life Today

John ends his letter like a loving spiritual father—reminding us what is true, what can be trusted, and how we should live. Our world may be confused about God, but we don’t need to be.

Following King Jesus gives us the confidence we need to live faithfully in this world.

And this kind of life—rooted in clarity, loyalty, and trust—is exactly what our world needs to see.

A Simple Challenge for This Week

Choose one concrete step of confidence:

• Pray boldly for someone who is struggling. 
• Confess a sin you’ve been tolerating.
• Silence a voice that is pulling you from the truth. 
• Open your Bible each morning and ask God to deepen your trust.

Live like someone who truly has eternal life—not someday, but now.

Final Thought

If you are in Christ, you are not meant to drift through life uncertain, anxious, or spiritually unstable. You are meant to stand firm, pray boldly, resist sin faithfully, love sincerely, and worship wholeheartedly. Reject every idol that competes for your allegiance.

Remain with Jesus. Trust Him. Follow Him.

And you will shine with a confidence this world has forgotten—but desperately needs to see.

Paul’s Ponderings is a blog dedicated to reflecting on Scripture and encouraging believers to live out their faith with love and purpose.

Living in Light, Love, and Truth: Faith in King Jesus

Text: 1 John 5:1–12

We live in a world full of noise—voices telling us what to value, whom to fear, and how to live. And in the middle of all that cultural confusion, John reminds us of something essential: the confidence we need to love each other and to overcome the world comes from knowing Jesus is King.

A Voice You Can Trust

In March of 2022, CBS News told the story of Jacob Smith, a 15-year-old freeride skier who is legally blind. Jacob has extreme tunnel vision, no depth perception, and everything he does see is a blur. His visual acuity is 20/800—meaning he would need the big “E” from the eye chart blown up four times its size to see it from twenty feet away.

So how does a teenager who can barely see ski down steep, dangerous mountain faces?

He listens to a voice he trusts.

On competition days, Jacob’s little brother guides him to peaks so high the lifts won’t take you there. His father waits at the bottom, takes a deep breath, and begins talking Jacob down the mountain. Jacob keeps a radio turned up loud in his pocket, and as he starts downhill he does exactly what his father says. “Turn right. Slow down. Big drop coming. Stay left.”

When asked how much he trusts his dad, Jacob smiled and said, “Enough to turn right when he tells me to.”

Confidence comes from knowing the authority you’re responding to. When you trust the one giving the command, obedience isn’t burdensome—it becomes natural. Fear loses its power.

That’s the tone John sets in 1 John 5. His churches have been overwhelmed by competing voices, false teachings, and spiritual confusion. So he brings them back to the one truth that changes everything:

You know who your King is.

Jesus is not one more voice among many. He is the true King of the cosmos—our source of life, confidence, and victory.

A Church Formed by Love

The  Church John envisioned is: a people who remain in the truth and walk in love. Discipleship isn’t complicated. We receive God’s love, which empowers us to love God and love people, and then others experience God’s love through us. That’s how disciples are made. That’s how we bear witness to the reign of King Jesus.

The apostle John wrote his first letter to faith communities under his care that had been under attack and divided by false teaching. This teaching downplayed Jesus and sin while focusing on spiritual power and enlightenment. John wanted to remind them of Jesus’s true identity as the unique Divine Son of God, the King of the World, and that our job is to love God and to love people.

John has just finished teaching about love—that the true definition of love is not what the false teachers say it is, but God, specifically seen in the sacrifice of Jesus. God’s type of love is sacrificial. It is giving what we have so the other person can be blessed. Along with love we need faith. What does this faith look like?

The Faith We Need

1. Faith in Jesus Produces Obedience and Love (vv. 1–3)

John begins with a simple assumption: faith comes first. Believing that Jesus is the Christ—the King of the cosmos—is more than mental agreement. It requires loyalty. Faith makes us God’s children, giving us a new identity and new expectations.

And what does this new family do?

We love.

For John, love for God and love for God’s children are inseparable. Love is not merely a feeling or warm sentiment—it is action. We love God by keeping His commandments: forgiving, showing mercy, serving, helping, and seeing others with honor. These aren’t burdensome tasks. They are the natural way of life in God’s kingdom, empowered by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23).

To love well, we must (1) declare our faith in Jesus, (2) choose to love His people, and (3) ask God to empower us.

2. Faith in the King Overcomes the World (vv. 4–5)

John reminds us that every child of God “defeats this evil world.” Our victory does not come from withdrawing or fighting harder—it comes from being made new. New birth gives us a new identity and a new allegiance.

Faith is the means of victory. Left to ourselves, we fall prey to deception, fear, and the false promises of the age. But loyalty to King Jesus anchors us in truth. There is no alternative path to life. The world doesn’t need our cleverness; it needs rescue. And God has provided that rescue in Jesus.

3. God Himself Testifies That Life Is in His Son (vv. 6–12)

John draws our attention to God’s testimony about His Son. The “water and blood” point to Jesus’ baptism and His sacrificial death—bookends to His earthly ministry. The Spirit affirms this testimony: in Scripture, in the apostles’ teaching, and in the inner witness of God’s people.

Rejecting Jesus is not merely a disagreement; it is calling God a liar. But receiving the testimony leads to life—true life, the life of God Himself, present within us now through the Spirit.

John makes the point unmistakable:

If you have the Son, you have life.

If you do not have the Son, you do not have life.

Living in the Confidence of King Jesus

What is the Point?

John gives us clarity about faith:

• Faith leads to love and obedience. We can love in small ways because we’re made in God’s image, but to love consistently, sacrificially, and joyfully requires surrender to Jesus.
• Faith leads to victory over the world. Our allegiance to King Jesus defines our identity. His victory becomes our victory.
• Faith rests on God’s testimony. The Scriptures, the work of the Spirit, the history of the Church, and transformed lives all come together to assure us that Jesus is the true King.

Big Idea: The confidence we need to love each other and to overcome the world comes from knowing Jesus is King.

Living out God’s love is challenging. What if we get hurt? What if people take advantage of us? What if nothing seems to change?

Our courage does not come from outcomes—it comes from the truth that Jesus has already won. His life, death, resurrection, and ascension declare that the world’s power is broken. So we live like people who belong to a victorious King.

A Challenge 

In your prayers this week, ask God to empower you to love. Love is how we are known as God’s people. And we desperately need His help to love well.

Final Thought

Because Jesus is the King who has already overcome the world, we don’t love out of fear—we love out of confidence. Every act of forgiveness, every step of obedience, every moment we choose love over resentment declares to the world:

My King has already won.

Paul’s Ponderings is a blog dedicated to reflecting on Scripture and encouraging believers to live out their faith with love and purpose.