When Does Religion Become Unhealthy?
Quite often I ask myself, “When does religion become unhealthy?” People who live religiously fail to pursue God as their spiritual connection to life. To this day, I cringe when someone calls me religious. In my mind’s eye, I see myself as a Pharisee where head knowledge about God never reaches my heart.
Consequently, religion turns me off and has for 50+ years. This scripture reminds me of why.
Matthew 7:21-23 – Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ enters the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name. In your name, didn’t we drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
When Does Religion Become Unhealthy for Religious People?
Recently, a friend told me that souls burden her heart. Specifically, people she knows think they’re saved but their lives reveal something different. She hasn’t slept and felt God urging her to do something.
She wrote a letter to them and shared the basics of Christianity. Many of these professing Christians believe they come back several times to earth as different people until they get it right. Others assume that all good people go to heaven and some think there is no eternity.
Some of these same people can’t talk about a relationship with Jesus because they don’t have one. They adopted their own plan of getting into heaven. By what they say and do, she sensed that something is wrong or as William Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “something is rotten in Denmark.”
I understand her reason for concern. She responded to her internal struggle to answer “When does religion become unhealthy” and found ways to take positive action.
Just like her, I see people worship on Sunday and live like the devil the rest of the week. Or, they dabble in New Age theology, Buddhism, or Hinduism. They seek to get in touch with their inner selves instead of their Creator. They have no problems with religion.
When Does Religion Become Unhealthy for Christians?
If Christians go to church for social reasons, they miss God’s heart. We should have an urgency to share the Gospel message and ask Him who to reach.
It’s true. Only God knows a person’s heart. But many times He reveals that Jesus isn’t a person’s Lord and Savior.
Here are a few clues that a person may not be saved.
- Christians feel out of place in the world because they look forward to stepping into heaven. Unbelievers don’t understand why Christians believe in an invisible God and oppose their beliefs. An unsaved person sees the world as their only home. They don’t have thoughts about living in heaven and being with Jesus for eternity.
- Someone who is saved expects God to chasten them. It’s normal for Christians to listen to the Holy Spirit living inside them for instructions on how to live in a fallen earth. If Jesus isn’t your Lord and Savior, you don’t consider how sin hinders your life and hurts God. You don’t belong to Him. Hebrews 12:7-8 – If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons (NKJV).
- Saved people don’t question their salvation. You know you aren’t perfect but your Savior, Jesus Christ, is. I hear people say, “I think I’m saved” rather than “I know I’m saved.” They aren’t certain and simply hope things work out in their favor.
- People who look at Christians arrive at one conclusion: they’re peculiar. The reason is we’re a royal priesthood, a chosen generation (I Peter 2:9). Christians read and meditate on scripture, see the Bible as spiritual food, and seem like fanatics to others. Biblical spiritual nourishment isn’t important to an unbeliever. They see no need for it.
- Christians separate themselves from sin because it displeases God. Conversely, a religious person may see no harm to get drunk frequently, cheat on their wife/husband, tell dirty jokes, or steal. A saved person abhors evil and clings to what is good (Romans 12:9). Looking for an excuse to sin reveals a person’s true colors and spiritual condition.
Additionally, the Holy Spirit may impart personal information to you about another person. He reveals knowledge in love so you pray for them more effectively.
Harmful Religious Beliefs Keep People As Lost as a Goose in Dense Fog
Right now a person may come to your mind who is dead to God but religion is alive and well. You tried to free them from religious cages but they responded defensively. Religion is their savior.
Not everyone who calls God “Lord” actually knows Him that way. No one gets to heaven by singing hymns, spouting off the right doctrine, or going to church every Sunday. Emotions fuel religious activity. Being involved in events God isn’t a part of doesn’t guarantee someone a place card at the banquet table in heaven.
What should you do when you feel a person plays the part of a saint but lacks a Savior? Greg Morse, a writer for Desiring God, described people who pretend to know Jesus. He says they’re, “lost in a dream, traveling to hell in church clothes.”
God knows who needs to hear the Good News. As you go about your day, He puts people on your heart. It takes courage to approach people about their plans for eternity. Before ever speaking to them, pray that the Holy Spirit stirs their hearts. He may instruct you to send them an email or share your faith some other way.
Listen to those nudges from God to pray for someone who is more ashamed of the Gospel than glad.
Romans 1:16-17 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God. A righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous live by faith.”
When Does Religion Become Unhealthy—Final Thoughts
We all know people who appear to live in spiritual houses built on sand. When that happens, I pray for them silently on the spot. Most likely, I’ll never meet them again but I can begin the process whereby another Christian leads them to Christ.
My desire for anyone living religiously is to help free them from religion where spiritual death reigns. You can be sure Satan habitually blinds them to the truth, My job is to enter God’s throne room and find out how to present Jesus to others. Every encounter can be an opportunity for someone to choose life and live for eternity in heaven.