Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. Psalm 23:6 (MSG)
Can you imagine if a man who was thinking about proposing to his girlfriend said to her, “Okay, cut to the chase. Tell me what I’ll have to do to keep you off my case if I marry you. How many times do I have to come home every week? How many household chores will I have to do? Do I have to talk to you every day? Give me the list now so I don’t have to figure all this out.”
Judging by his questions, he was trying to find out the minimum he could do to stay on her good side. But she’s not interested in joining a ritual institution called “marriage”. She wants a relationship that is ever-growing and changing. She wants to embark on an adventure with him involving decade after decade of loving, laughing, changing, growing and pursuing one another. She’s interested in a relationship.
Relationship is so much better than ritual. And so it is with Christianity.
Jesus didn’t start a religion. Mankind just seems to deviate that way. We like to figure out systems and structures, thinking we can downgrade Christianity to a bunch of rules for what you can and can’t do.
People who are new to Christianity often wonder what they can and can’t do to keep God happy, but that’s the wrong question. Jesus isn’t interested in religion. He wants your love, your devotion, and your heart.
Any relationship can become rich and rewarding if both people passionately pursue getting to know each other. God is already passionately pursuing you. Start pursuing a deeper relationship with Him!