Are You Religious?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight. (Ephesians 1:3-8 ESV). Will Rogers was once asked, "Are you a member of an organized political party?" He replied quickly, "No, I'm a Democrat." I recently overheard a conversation that reminded me of that question. Not long ago, a customer in the local Office Depot was copying some documents and asked one of the technicians to help get the machine working correctly. He discovered that she had the original placed wrong. A quick adjustment and her copies started spewing out. She thanked them for helping and then asked, "My son writes religious poetry, would you like to read some of it?" She handed them a copy and as they were reading the poem, she immediately followed up with the question, "Are you religious?" Without thinking about what he was saying he replied, "No, I'm a Christian." That was a very curious response. I don’t know the young man very well. However, I do know he is a committed Christian. That response must have sounded odd to the lady. She probably did not expect the response she got. After some thought and reflection I realized you can be religious without being a Christian and you can be a Christian without being especially religious by society's standards. Just today I read another statement that spurred my thoughts further. Steve Brown said: "People who don't want to go to Hell are religious. Christians have probably been there and know who showed them the way back." It was a reminder that being religious and being a Christian are not necessarily one and the same. And certainly, being religious and being Heaven-bound are not necessarily the same. I've heard it said that religion is man's effort to reach out to God. Jesus is God's way of reaching out to man. The experience of grace centers in the person of Jesus Christ, not in the organization developed to worship Him! Are you religious? It is better to be Christian!