This is a 3 Part series. In the first part, which is this very one, I will be establishing the necessity of religion in our relationship with God and in the marriage relationship as well. In the second part, we will look at the effect of the loss of religion in our churches and homes and how the loss of religion leads to broken homes and dysfunctional families. Then, in the concluding part, Part 3, we will be looking at the difference between religion and tradition. Please keep your mind open and enjoy this ride with me.

Contrary to what is becoming very popular among Christians today, I choose religion. I choose to be a religious Christian. I believe that without religion in Christianity, Christianity would crumble like a pack of cards. And in this day and age that we are in, I think the religious Christian has a much better chance at winning the fight than the non religious Christian who only believes in “as the Spirit leads.”

I have written and taught several times that God has called us into a relationship and not into a religion. And it is very true, but embedded in that relationship is religion. Without religion our relationship with Christ is just lip service. In fact, for any kind of relationship to really thrive, religion must be practiced. Religion is the lifeblood of any relationship.

If you look closely beneath the veneer of any thriving relationship you will find RELIGION written in bold letters. Just lift up the blankets and you will find religion having sex. When there is no religion in relationships, relationships fail and families crumble. I believe that one major cause of the high rate of broken homes and divorce cases in the world today that the experts have failed to spot is the absence of religion in our families.

The highest divorce cases in the world today occur among Christian families. Take a close look beyond what the clueless experts are saying and you will find that the moment we started to take away religion out of Christianity everything started to crumble. And one of the necessary factors to stem the tide is to resurrect religion back into Christianity.

Read through the entire bible and you will find glaring straight at us in the Old Testament and between the lines in the New Testament is the word “Religion.” In fact Christ Himself institutionalized religion in Christianity. And religion held the early church together. I will make my submissions as we go further into this topic. If you are privileged to spend seven days with any of these great men of God in the church today who are doing well both in the ministry and in their relationships you will find religion in their lifestyles.

What do I mean when I say religion is the lifeblood of any relationship? First, I will define religion so I am sure we are on the same page, then, I will give two illustrations to drive my stance. The first illustration will be that of a marriage relationship, and the second will be that of man and God. I could have even gone further to include the relationship between a man and his dog so you find religion at play there also, but I think the first two illustrations will suffice.

Definition of Religion

The Oxford ADVANCED LEARNER’S Dictionary defines Religion as: the belief in the existence of a god or gods, and the activities that are connected with the worship of them.

If you go further down and look up the word “Religiously” you will find: very carefully or regularly.

The religious Christian, therefore, is one who practices the activities related to or necessary for the worship of God regularly or routinely. That means the person engages in that act whether he feels like it or not. So when we see someone who engages in an activity at a set time regularly, for instance, we say the person does that act religiously. It is this act of doing something at a set time regularly that I refer to as religion, and I am saying that this very ingredient is the lifeblood of any thriving relationship.

Illustration 1
In a marriage relationship, and please let me be clear here that by marriage I am referring to a union between a man and woman where there is a clear gender difference, which do you think will thrive more? One where the man regularly calls the wife at the office to affirm his love for her or one where the man occasionally calls the wife to affirm his love for her, other things being equal. I believe we both agree that the first relationship will thrive better than the second.

Now, let’s go a notch deeper, two men decides to be calling their wives regularly, let’s say they both call their wives on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, one calls his wife anytime of the day on those days, but the other calls his wife between the hours of 10am and 12noon. Which of the two relationships do you think will thrive better all other things being equal? I believe the second will. Why?

You see with the first relationship, because the wife has no idea when her husband will call, she will either be on edge all through the day or she will just go about her duties normally after all she has no idea when her husband will call. But with the second woman, between the hours of 10am and 12noon, you will see her glancing at her phone every now and then at because she is expecting a call from her husband. She will be unusually happy during these hours that even her colleagues will notice.

What we just established with the above illustration is that the more religion is institutionalized in a relationship, the better it is for the relationship. Every lady is happier if she can predict the time her man will call. Yes, they may want to be surprised occasionally, but not at the expense of that special moment when she is certain you will call. That is why when a guy usually calls his girl every night, the day he calls her in the afternoon she still expects him to call again at night.

Illustration 2
Someone says “between 1am and 2am every night I will wake up to pray for at least 15mins.” Or maybe between 5am and 6am, whatever time he decides. Someone else says “that is religion, I will pray when I have that awesome Holy Spirit urge to pray.” In this day and age where so many things call for our attention, before you know it, the second person would have gone six months without praying before he suddenly realizes it. Except for Sundays when he is at church.

But because the first person institutionalized religion into his relationship with the Lord, he becomes better for it. Soon he becomes more sensitive and responsive to the promptings of the Spirit. And he is better able to walk in the Spirit than the other guy who was waiting for the Spirit to move him before he prays.

Ravi Zacharias says, “In this day and age, the biggest battle you will face in your life is in keeping your daily appointment with God.” Let me add here that only the religious Christian will win this battle because you have to come to the point where you say to yourself, “Whether I feel like it or not, I am going to do it.” And that, my friend, is religion.

My stance may not be the most popular, but I choose to be a religious Christian. In the part two of this note we will trace back to the early church and see how religion sustained them and see how we can apply religion in our churches and families today to build stronger churches and family ties. We will also see how the “as the Spirit leads” theology is actually leading to a collapse in our churches and subsequently, our families.

When the 2011 divorce statistics were grouped based on denomination, guess what showed up? Pentecostals had the highest, Catholics had the lowest. In part two of this note we will see why this trend occurred.

Thanks,
Mute Efe. (www.facebook.com/mutehimself)
+234-803-874-9796