Religious People Vs. Christians

There may have been a time when someone has asked you, or you've asked, "Are you a Christian?" And you, or that person, may have had a cringing response. Why? People look at Christianity as rules: you can't do this, can't do that. It has the "I'm better than you", "I'm God's greatest gift" attitude. To tell you the truth, there are people that are Christians that have this mindset and attitude. They may not even realize they are acting a certain way that Jesus would bust you over the dome piece (your head) for. That's why by the grace of our loving God, He's after our heart, not our behavior. But that doesn't pardon our behavior either. In Revelation 3:1-3 Jesus is rebuking the Church of Sardis for their "good deeds". They were so focused on doing what every other Christian thinks is righteous: reading your Bible, praying, attending church, doing a food drive or whatever. They quit walking with the Lord! Just going through all the motions, whistling to themselves I'm sure, and trying to make people think they're insanely spiritual and godly. And for the love, don't boast about your deeds either (1 Cor 5:6-8, Eph 2:8-9). A part-time attender of church is usually a part-time follower of Christ, but a full-time attender of church can also not follow Christ at all (Matt 7:21-23). You can't follow Christ and stay the same. Seriously, it's impossible. See some people think that Christianity is like a, "Get out of jail free card". In other words, go out and do whatever you want, and you can be forgiven. The problem with that is when you focus on exactly what Jesus did for you and me, you become overwhelmed with His love and then you have the desire to do whatever He wants you to, not what we want to do (Rom 5:8). God's one and only Son, died on a cross, naked and bleeding, so that you and I could live an eternal life and be reconciled with God. Jesus doesn't make bad people good, he makes dead people alive! There's nothing extra that comes along with Christianity, it's Jesus Christ, and only Him, follow Him, everything else means nothing (Phil 3:8). A religious person seems to get that part backwards, they think it's works based. You don't gain your green card to heaven by sticking your nose high in the air and thinking to yourself, "Look how good I am because I do all of these wonderful things for God." How empty a person must be when they think of themselves higher than others (Phil 2:3-5). But how easy it is for anyone, including myself, for us to get into that mindset that it's all about us. Maybe that's how people become "religious" rather than sold out for Jesus. Believe it or not, God wants us to have a joyful, fulfilling life (John 15:9-11). Fully sell yourself out for our Lord Jesus, and your mind will be blown. I can't even begin to explain what I've seen happen in other peoples' lives, as well as mine, when they become true disciples of Christ. The overwhelming joy and love you gain is incredible, and ALL of it, is from Jesus, nothing I have done entitles me to take credit for anything. Now go young padawans, be challenged!!! I DARE YOU!!