ROOTS ARE HIDDEN BENEATH A SURFACE- HOWEVER POLISHED THAT SURFACE MAY BE.

The majority of us define ourselves initially by our traditions and our culture. Who, where and in what religion we are born into. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhist….. many of us define ourselves as one of this. This is who we are and many times it is the focal point and the well from which we draw inspiration and direction.

Religion is one of the keys that define us. We pledge ourselves and our allegiance to a religion because it defines us … it is who we are. We are born into it and we are ready to die for it. This has been the mindset for ages- from creation until now.

When Cain killed Abel.. it was over an offering aka RELIGION. Cain lost sight of who he was and instead took upon himself the label of religion. 

The question of our identity is not in the family we were born into, the culture, the country nor the religion we were born into. Our identity is first HUMAN. This is our root. We were created… not evolved. We were created with a spirit, soul and a body. And we turned away from God to our own knowledge.

As we come to realize our humanity, we understand that as humans, we are not gods or GOD. And as such, we cannot save ourselves from the justice of our rebellion against our Creator. We need someone to save us…. a divine SAVIOR. 

When we can peel away the covering of religion from our eyes and understand that we were born for destiny in GOD rather than religion, we will know our purpose.

It is difficult many times because we tend to group GOD and religion in the same basket. But they are two ends of a spectrum. Religion binds us to many things and chains us to a destiny of death. God sets us free and enables us to choose to follow Him to Life. He is Life. It is religion that crucified Jesus but by His Love, he made a way of escape for us.

John 8: 31 47 (NASB) says

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”

They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

Religion is not from God but it is a lie of the enemy with the intention to bind us so that we can never see God even if we profess to know HIM. 

Shake this lie from our root and seek to know God.. not from religion but from His revelation of Himself. 

Luke 11:9-14 (NASB)  Jesus says:

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.“For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Jesus declares He is the door John 10:9 (NASB) “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

RELIGION TELLS US THAT WE DESERVE OUR SUFFERING, THAT THERE IS NO HELP FOR US AND THAT WE SHOULD DIE. GOD THROUGH JESUS TELLS US WE ARE MEANT TO BE ALL THAT WE CAN BE, WE HAVE DESTINY AND PURPOSE AND WE HAVE LIFE.

John 10:10- The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (JESUS) came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

If we seek truth, He will find us. Jesus Christ is this truth. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Amen