RELATIONSHIP OVER RELIGION

first off, I'll begin by defining and stating the difference between religion and relationship.

religion is like based on legalism, meaning you have to follow a bunch of rules to stay in line with what is expected as good behavior. while a relationship is where two or more people put in the work, love each other right in order for the relationship to stand. in this case we are focusing on our personal relationship with God.

a little backstory here... so all my life I have been taught that in order to get God's grace or for God to love me I had to do certain things like read the bible more, pray more etc. now don't get me wrong here, I don't mean that doing these things are bad, but you have to do them because you want to not because you have to. now I have understood that I shouldn't place my understanding believing that I will only be loved by God when I do certain things. God loves me he has always loved me, even before I ever loved him or me. he loved me when I was a sinner and even before I was born and brought into this world. just like it says in the book of psalms 139:13 that he knew us even before we were formed in our mother's womb. how comforting is that knowing that you were loved even before you came into existence physically.

I believe that we should all understand that God loves us unconditionally meaning he loves us whether we do things for him or not. his love is unconditional, he doesn't need a reason to love you because he is love. 1John 4:16 says that God is love. so instead of doing all these things to impress him, we should do them because we love him, and we want to grow more in him and learn more about him in order to have a relationship with him.

I'll ask this question, 'are you a Christian because of religion or relationship?