I came across a verse in the bible the other day that I had never really noticed before. However, it was a verse that I believe sheds light on the state of Western Christianity and especially Church life in the North East USA.

The verse is found in the book of Romans. The apostle Paul told the church who lived in Rome:

“So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death” Rom 7:10

This was a man who knew everything there was to know about Jewish law. This was the very law that was supposed to connect him with God. This was the very law that once was an avenue to finding a relationship and mercy from the God of this universe. Yet the very thing which was originally designed to help man, was in fact killing Paul.

For Paul it had become about following the rules. The rules became more important than the God the rules were designed in order to connect with. For Paul, he discovered that religion on its own would eventually kill the very spirit inside of him.

Paul was talking about the Jewish law, but I see this in so many churches and Christian homes today. It has become about the rules, the duties, the things we should and shouldn’t do. While all these were put in place for a reason, they are slowly killing the very life of our churches. The problem isn’t the rules or regulations, everyone needs them otherwise there would be total chaos. The problem is that we make those rules and regulations idols in our lives and measure our relationship with God by how close we stick to them.

Idols kill our spirit. When our spirit dies the very thing that once brought life, hope and faith suddenly turns into plain old boring religion. Having the rules without a connection to Christ will empty a church within months.

So do you have a relationship with the rules or do you have one with the one the rules were meant to keep you close to?

One will cause death and one will bring life. I choose LIFE!