Relationship or Religion

January 15, 2009

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Herod's Wrath of Bethlehem's Children Matthew 2:16 - 18

Matthew 2:16 ISV
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he flew into a rage and ordered the execution of all the male children in Bethlehem and all its neighboring regions who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had determined from the wise men.


As noted on January 13 reading, Herod had a lot of chances to believe in and follow Jesus, but chose not to. Now he feels that he has had the religion pulled out from under him. And to some degree he has. Religion is not a relationship with Jesus. It is a form and a way to do things that gives us comfort in the fact that it is the same way every time. The problem with religion is that life is not the same way every day. Things change in your life. Religion will not change but you will need to. Relationship will allow for that change. You can take time to talk to Jesus and see what needs to change in your life to fix things.

Like many who have 'religion', Herod got angry when things did not go the way he wanted. His was extreme though.

My question for you today, do you have religion or relationship?

Read for tomorrow: Joseph's Family settles in Nazareth Matthew 2: 19 - 23