Devotional: Why I hate religion...but love Jesus

This is a response to the Video, “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus” www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDG…
As Requested By:


About a week ago, youtube user Jefferson Bethke posted a video of his spoken word poem “Why I hate religion, but love Jesus.” This video very quickly made its way onto social networks and now has over 12,000,000 views.

He reminds us to live so that we show Jesus to the world instead of getting caught up in the religious aspect of being a Christian. I think most of us have heard the phrase, “Christianity is not a religion but a relationship,” but not all of us live our lives in a way that would show nonbelievers this is true.

As Christians, we need to take a step back and evaluate our lives. Sometimes we get wrapped up in what the “Christian” thing would be to do, in stead of, what Jesus would do.

I know that there are many people don’t reject Christianity because they disagree with it, but rather because those who say they believe in God don’t show they really care. Being a hypocrite solves nothing. Jesus faced people exactly like this during his time on earth. The Pharisees knew every verse and every law, yet they did not listen to Jesus.


James  2: 14-17 sums this idea up well, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."


We need to be careful that our Christianity is centered around Jesus and we are reading the Bible and spending time with God on our own. Satan LOVES religion. If he can get you to fall into religion instead of God then not only will he be keeping you from God, but also those around you who are watching to see if your religion is true or not.

If our Christianity is only on the surface how is that helping anyone? It is not our job to condemn people. It is our job to show them the truth, and for some, “your life may be the only Bible a person will ever read.” Lets make sure we are showing the truth, not closing doors.

One of the best lines in this video is, “...but if Jesus came to your Church, would they actually let him in?”

Once, before I started attending church my youth pastor and one of my friends dressed up as homeless people and stood outside the church. Their costumes were very believable so no one knew who they really were, but my youth pastor said it was strange because almost no one said a word to them. There were a few people who did invite them inside and were very nice but it was obvious that there were others who were very uncomfortable to have these two homeless people in the church. Eventually, my friends revealed who they were.

Some people came up to my youth pastor to apologize to him for how they acted after the service. One lady sadly said, “You know a church would probably be one of the worst places for a person to go to get help.”

Is this not strange? This group of people who claims to want to spread God’s love to the end of the earth have difficulties letting only two homeless people into their church? We need to be stepping out of these little comfort bubbles we have made for ourselves and sharing God’s love and purpose to everyone.

Go back and watch the video one more time, and ask God, what can I do in my life to show you to the world?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDG…

Lets not let our Christianity be only surface deep! Lets go to the heart!


~*~For the comments~*~

What are your thoughts on the video?
Also, do you like this type of devotional paired with a video? If you guys like it then we can keep doing more.