Sharing His SeatSample

Religion vs relationship

Yesterday we touched on the question if Jesus is the only One seated on the throne of your heart. And today, I would like to touch on one of the main reasons why we tend to share His throne with other idols.

In today’s world, there are approximately 2.4 billion people proclaiming that they are Christians. But when we look at their lives we can see that they are not Christ-followers. This means there is a difference between simply believing in Jesus as Saviour, and truly making Him the Lord of your life. There is a difference between religion and relationship. Religion is having knowledge of God but not actively following Him. Relationship is pursuing the Lord with everything that you are and you are willing to abandon everything for His Name’s sake. Religion is what causes you to put Jesus in the passenger seat in your life while relationship is what gives Him the steering wheel and the key to the car. Religion is what blocks your way into the Kingdom while relationship is what allows you to enter and partake of the new life that Jesus paid for.

Jesus made it very clear in the Gospels that He is not interested in a massive following just because He is “the new kid on the block.” Jesus came for two reasons. Number 1) to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Number 2) to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom. (Luke 4:43). Jesus Himself said that whoever desires to follow Him must deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow Him. That doesn’t sound like an easy road to me. Jesus said that if you are not willing to lose your life, hate your own family members, or renounce all your possessions, then you are not worthy of following Him. Jesus made it very clear that to follow Him you have to be either all in or all out. There is no middle ground when it comes to following Jesus.

Jesus wasn’t expecting us to throw a cold shoulder on everything in this world and just read our Bibles the whole day proclaiming that we follow Him. No, Jesus was expressing that if we are willing to share His seat with another god then we are not His true followers. When the apostles and the first disciples faced persecution, they had to be in a relationship with Jesus for them to endure those kinds of trials. Religion cannot stand against trials. Relationship with Jesus enables you to endure the trials and draws you closer to God in the midst of it all. To be in a relationship with Jesus is not easy, we will get tested, slandered, and even persecuted. But Jesus never said it would be easy, He said it would be worth it. And the only way we can grow in our relationship with the Lord is if we let Him have the entire seat in our hearts.

So the question is this ~ Is Jesus sharing His seat in your heart?