Ensign: What Good Is Religion

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3


AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 28 June 2013

The Time Machine, H. G. Wells' first novel, is one of my favorite books. But I think my favorite line – at least, the one that's stuck with me all these years and inspired today's message – comes from another novel of his, The War of the Worlds. Quite a jump from traveling to 802,701 A.D., but what stood out to me in Wells' novel of interplanetary invasion was the panic in one person when the aliens landed in London that the narrator gave a quick pep talk to culminating in this statement:

“What good is religion if it collapses under calamity?”

The five times religion is mentioned in the Bible by that name are all in the New Testament, and only one reference is favorable. James 1:27 (see below) is also the only direct religion reference where “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe … usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code” (I'm swiping the definition from Dictionary.com) isn't belonging to somebody.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Acts 26:5, “our religion”. Galatians 1:13, “Jews' religion”. Galatians 1:14, “Jews' religion”. James 1:26, “this man's religion”. Now I'm not saying that religion is bad, unlike some of my acquaintance who are set in their view that it does not take religion to be good – going likewise with Dictionary.com's definition here, “morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious”. Change that; the beef I often hear is that is that it does not take God to be good. And I'm inclined to agree.

Okay, this is the point where your eyes bulge out and you're thinking, “What is he saying? You don't need God to be good?” You don't, not if we limit our definition of good to just what I was saying before. You need God to be the best you can be, the best you were created to be. When the rich young ruler asks Jesus what he must do to have eternal life (this story's in Matthew 19:16-30), he starts by calling him “Good Master”.

He asks his question, and Jesus sets him straight. Jesus says here that I'm not good – that is, I'm not the One Who you should be asking this because I know you already know what to do, keeping the commandments. God set it down already, and the young ruler recites a list. THEN comes the caveat from Jesus, verse twenty-one's “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”

Please understand I am not saying religion is bad, or that possessions are bad. I don't believe even Jesus says that; if you're not careful though, religion and possessions can become the bedrock, perhaps even the condition, of your faith (that is, you're as long as you're ok). Verse twenty-two's “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions” could well have been Job's story too – and we know how he came through the test of his faith.

Make no mistake, it was Job's faith that was being tested in the Old Testament book bearing his name, not his religion. He knew the rules, he kept the forms, and he was blessed with goods and family, but his faith in God wasn't tied into that. It was the conscious choices he made throughout his life – even the young ruler said he kept the commandments since childhood, but it had become automatic, as all worship has the potential to become – that kept him where God could keep him in trial and tribulation.

That is when you and I have a faith that is worth the devil's trouble to destroy. The vast majority of us don't even have that, sad to say. When we have a faith in our all-encompassing God that is worth the trouble of destroying, we ourselves will not be by anything in this life. And the good that religion will become for you and me is that it focuses our devotion and keeps us looking not only at our needs and wants, but for others' as well and first by seeing them through the prism of God's sight.

To use a Wellsian analogy, you will make the Morlocks pay for their meat.

To use a Christian one, Jesus already paid for yours on the cross.

David


P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!


We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.


Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.


Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.