Nowadays, religion has been overrated. Oftentimes, people show their faith through a legalistic perspective. Churches, mosques, and even temples are all beautiful structures made with gold. Memorizing long prayers has become a tradition within the walls of these buildings. However, the real heart behind all these religious things created by men has been long forgotten. Religion only created a division between God’s children. Where did this all start?
Before there was religion, there was God. There is God and there will always be God. Then God created man in His own image and likeness [Genesis 1:27]. Moreover, because we are like our Creator, every individual walking on earth has a vacuum in their heart to worship the One who created them. Thus, because of sin, people forgot about the One true God and worshiped other things besides Him— giving birth to religion.
God knew what was going on, so He sent His Son, Jesus, to break the religion men created for themselves and bring His children back to the real heart of things to set them free. “Jesus declared, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself,”’ [Matthew 22:37-39].
This is what the famous vlogger, Nas Daily, discourses on his 1-minute video, “How Much Should Religion Cost?” He expresses his thoughts about what God would do to expensive religious buildings if He were here. Surprisingly, he describes God as Someone Who would help humans in need rather than prioritizing building luxurious churches, mosques and temples.
Nas was exactly right. 2,000 years ago, even Jesus Himself criticized the religious leaders. He told them they crushed people with unbearable religious demands and never lifted a finger to ease the poor people’s burden [Matthew 23:4]. The whole chapter of Matthew 23 is Jesus rebuking leaders for being religious and ignoring the things that do matter—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Jesus demonstrated what it’s like to worship God– and that is to love Him and His people.
“This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will be My place of repose? Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being, declares the LORD. This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.” [Isaiah 66:2]
Credits: Nas Daily