Walk with me and work with me— watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. Matthew 11:28–30 (AMP) You can’t map out how to make a relationship work. Although there are general principles that work for all relationships, each relationship is unique. As you walk through life with someone, you discover how to grow closer to them. You could call this the “unforced rhythms” of a relationship. You can’t force this closeness. It’s something you develop. When a couple stops pursuing this closeness, the relationship slowly dies. They come to rely on a few rules of engagement to keep things running smoothly. The relationship begins to run on law rather than love, and that’s no way to grow a relationship. Relationships have …

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Matthew 11:28 (AMPC) Religion will burn you out. It teaches that you have to earn your way to God. As a result, you never feel like you’re good enough, so you become buried under a heavy load of guilt and condemnation. If you believe you have to earn your way to God, you aren’t living life to the fullest. Because this belief causes you to live in fear of judgment and punishment, you can’t enjoy the life Jesus died to give you. When you mess up in life, you try harder because you think you need to …

If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him! John 14:7 (NLT) Many religions believe that when you do wrong, you pay for it. Essentially, they assume that good actions lead to good happenings and bad actions lead to bad happenings in your life. Christians tend to get this issue confused. In the Bible, we find the law of sowing and reaping, which is very much in effect today. But some Christians assume this means God is out to get them when they do wrong. They think that if they break one of His laws, God will look for ways to punish them. If they get into an accident or …

You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. John 5:39–40 (NLT) We’re way off track if we’re more interested in laws and rules than having a relationship with Jesus. That’s like falling in love with the treasure map instead of the treasure. You see, Jesus said that we were given the Scriptures to show the way to Him. But when we only think about following the rules set out by Scripture, we forget that we have access to something so much better: We have the opportunity to have a relationship with Jesus! Following Jesus is not only about following rules to look like you …

Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? Matthew 15:3 (NLT) Jesus challenged the religious status quo. I’m not saying that Jesus rebelled against God. In Matthew 5:17 He said, “I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose”. Jesus fulfilled the law because He never sinned. But He did break all sorts of man-made religious rules. For example, during Jesus’ first miracle, He turned water into wine in water jugs that were reserved for rituals of sacred hand washing (John 2:6). He healed people on the Sabbath. When the law dictated that a woman who had been caught in adultery was to be …