5 Assumptions About God And Why They Are WrongSample

Religious activities

Assumption 2: All God wants me to do is go to church

Years ago, during my stint as a pastor, I knew a man who volunteered regularly at his church. At least three or four days every week. This man had a servant’s heart. He loved taking jobs that allowed him to serve others, whether by cooking a meal or cleaning a restroom. Most of the unseen jobs at the church were done by this man. Yet one day as I left the church, I saw him sitting on the lawn mower, not mowing, and he waved me over. As I neared I realized he was crying. As we talked he explained that all his volunteering was an attempt to make God happy with him because there was sin in his life he was not letting go of, but the volunteering wasn’t working. As hard as he tried to get closer to God by serving the church, it never seemed to work.

Too often the unspoken assumption goes something like this: the more I am ingrained into the life of the church and the more religious activities I participate in, the more pleasing I am to God. It is very easy to mistake serving the church as following Jesus. Yes, if you do follow Jesus you will serve the church, but the first step has to be following Jesus. When we try to please God by involving ourselves in church and religious activities, we often find that something feels like it is missing. That feeling is correct. Church without Jesus is empty. Religion without God is meaningless. It is the relationship with Jesus that truly matters.

In Micah chapter six, the prophet addresses the misunderstanding that participation in church will please God. Micah wrote to an audience who had embraced sin for a very long time but was still trying half-heartedly to please God by doing some of the religious rituals found in the Old Testament. Micah points out that their participation in God’s religious activities was not pleasing to God. In fact, what God wanted wasn’t their offerings and sacrifices. What God wanted was a relationship with his people. God is pleased with us when we do our best to act like Jesus, love like Jesus, and be in relationship with Jesus.