Everyone Has a Religion

Everyone in the universe has a religion – whether they are a Christian, Muslim, or Atheist.

Religion is simply defined as “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe.”

Even people who don’t call themselves religious have an opinion on why we are here and how we should live our lives. What is the key implication here? Exclusivity.

Non-religious people usually attack religious people because religious people claim to know why we are here and how we should live our lives. Religion appears to be arrogant and therefore the non-religious preach tolerance of all views.

They rebel against the religious for “evangelizing” the world with their exclusive views on the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe.

However, as you look at the life of a non-religious person, you’ll see that they are religious by the way they live their lives.

Every time someone says, “You should do this…” or “You can’t do that…” to anyone (child, neighbor, family member, etc.) - they are evangelizing their beliefs about the how the universe is wired. They are trying to impose a belief system on someone else. Therefore, every action that anyone takes is a religious one.

So the ultimate question is not “Should I be religious?” BUT “Which religion (belief system) should I put my trust in?”

If there really is an ultimate reality, a universal truth by which we should live – then it REALLY will be the best way to live – compared to all the other imitations out there.

All of us have a religion – full of beliefs that we think are superior to others. Therefore, pastor Tim Keller asks in his book The Reason for God, “Which [religion in the world today] will lead their believers to be the most loving and receptive to those with whom they differ?”

The answer is [authentic] Christianity. Jesus ushered in a movement that was defined by love – a love without conditions. Jesus loved his enemies and even died for them. Can you think of a better belief system than that?

Christianity is EXCLUSIVE (there is only one truth, one belief system by which we must live) but is also INCLUSIVE (Jesus will accept anyone at any time regardless of what they have done – if they put their trust in Him and His work on the cross for them).

Once again, can you think of any other belief system better than that?

A Restful Kind of Work

*cliff notes and musings on Tim Keller’s sermon on work

Rocky Balboa couldn’t sleep the night before the big fight. He told his wife that he didn’t even need to win, but that he just wanted to go the distance. He simply said that he didn’t want to be a bum.

Madonna, in Vogue magazine said, “Every time I accomplish something I feel like a special human being, but after a little while I feel mediocre and uninteresting again. I find that I have to get past this again and again. My drive in life is from the horrible fear of being mediocre. I have to prove that I’m somebody.”

Harold Abram in the movie Chariots of Fire said, “I got ten seconds to justify my existence.”

What do these people have in common? They are all proving that there is something behind the work. They aren’t just working for money. They are working to find meaning and approval.

Steven Jay Gould, an atheist says, “We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a 'higher' answer - but none exists…this explanation, though superficially troubling, if not terrifying, is ultimately liberating. We, therefore, have to construct any meaning ourselves.”

The big question is: How are we going to find meaning in this life without a God in our worldview? Answer: through our work.

The problem with this answer is that if anything goes wrong with our career, then we don’t have meaning anymore.

You see, there is work, and then there is a work behind the work.

The “work behind the work” is the grueling pursuit to find approval and significance from others in this world. And since others’ approval is not sustaining, we are on this tiring pursuit our whole lives.

But a restful kind of work is being offered to us.

The reason why God’s work is so different is because it is a work that flows out of rest - a rest that is freely given and is the result of His approval and acceptance and love for us.

When we have value and purpose and acceptance before we go to work, we can work restfully. We can go about our work with joy, using the gifts God’s given us, truly desiring to help other people, because we are not thinking about having to make a name for ourselves.

May you fall into God’s rest by trusting in the fact that Jesus died on the cross, wiping away your sins, so that you can have acceptance and approval and meaning and value – even before you wake up in the morning and start working.