Your "Religion" Is Too Small...

Christianity is about the gospel (gospel meaning 'good news'). Unfortunately, what this good news is sometimes misunderstood. The Good News is not about what we are doing. The Good News is about what God is doing and has done. In the December 25, 2011 USA Today article on growing religious apathy, the role of religion was brought into question by comments made by Rabbi Micah Greenstein. He was quoted as saying that spirituality, or religion, is about how one relates to God, the world, others, or oneself. When reading the quote from Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Church one gets the further impression that religion is utilitarian, pushing us towards greater peace and compassion.

This view of religion--and when one's focus turns to Christianity, this view of the gospel-- is entirely too small. I ran across this quote in Fred Sanders' book, The Deep Things of God, that serves as a good reminder to Christians that while the gospel might produce in believers greater peace and more compassion, it does a great disservice to the gospel to reduce it to (in the words of Rabbi Greenstein) "...taking care of the world and fulfilling your role as God's partner, know it or not..."

"A gospel which is only about the moment of conversion but does not extend to every moment of life in Christ is too small. A gospel that gets your sins forgiven but offers no power for transformation is too small. A gospel that isolates one of the benefits of union with Christ and ignores all the others is too small. A gospel that must be measured by your own moral conduct, social conscience, or religious experience is too small. A gospel that rearranges the components of your life but does not put your personally in the presence of God is too small" (Sanders 106).