John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
This verse is one of the most popular and frequently quoted verses of the entire Bible, and rightly so. It gives us an intimate look into God and His love. God’s love is a powerful subject, and a most important one, however it is not in the scope of my writing today.
There seems to still be a debate as to whether Christianity is a religion or not. Personally I don’t understand what the big deal is, and why some people fight to say that it is not a religion. They give reasons like: “religion is man trying to reach God” and thus “Christianity is God reaching man” so they affirm that it cannot be a religion. But is this how God sees it? Is this how God defines religion and does He see Christianity as a religion?
James 1:26-27 “26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
I am at lunch with a good friend, my phone rings, I instinctively pick it up to see who is calling, oh it’s my wife. I ask for permission to pick it up, knowing he wouldn’t say no. A professor is sitting in his office talking with a student, the student’s phone rings, he picks it up, it’s his wife. Another professor is talking with a student in his office, his phone rings, he doesn’t pick up, the student is confused. I call a good friend who is out to dinner with his family, he picks up.
These are all true stories, and they all have something in common. In each of these stories, there is a battle going on, a hidden, unspoken battle. It is the battle between the face and the phone.