Practicing Religion
Most of the people of the world practice religion without having a relationship with the One True God through the Lord Jesus Christ. That was true of the people who were transplanted to Israel when the people of Israel was taken into exile by Assyria.(II Kings 17:41) People will worship just about anything or anyone, if it is passed down from their fathers and grandfathers. It is the easy road, but it brings no real satisfaction to life.
The people who came to live in Israel asked for the Assyrians to send a priest to teach them the "rituals" of the people of Israel. That is all it was to them. It was a ritual to go through. That is what it means to practice a religion. It is to go through the motions of worship, but there is no connection to God. Religions and rituals can be passed down from one generation to the next, because it is just learned behavior. However, a father can't pass down his relationship with God to his child. The son or daughter must decide to enter into a personal relationship with God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. This can't be done by observing any ritual.
Let's make sure we are not practicing religion passed down from our ancestors. Let's put aside any rituals in favor of a relationship. Let's stop trying to worship God and idols as a religion like the Samaritans did. Only a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ makes an eternal change in our lives.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 18-21.
The people who came to live in Israel asked for the Assyrians to send a priest to teach them the "rituals" of the people of Israel. That is all it was to them. It was a ritual to go through. That is what it means to practice a religion. It is to go through the motions of worship, but there is no connection to God. Religions and rituals can be passed down from one generation to the next, because it is just learned behavior. However, a father can't pass down his relationship with God to his child. The son or daughter must decide to enter into a personal relationship with God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. This can't be done by observing any ritual.
Let's make sure we are not practicing religion passed down from our ancestors. Let's put aside any rituals in favor of a relationship. Let's stop trying to worship God and idols as a religion like the Samaritans did. Only a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ makes an eternal change in our lives.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 18-21.