“Religion” is a word that, frankly, I recoil from – because to me, it carries a lot of baggage. It speaks of rituals and rules, bells and smells if you will, which is precisely the sort of sterile Christianity that I grew up in.

And let me tell you, not only did that sterile imposter not do a single thing for me, but it inoculated me against Christianity, against God, against Jesus, for many years – decades, in fact.

Sadly, still today, there are many people who call themselves Christians out of no more than a sense of obligation to the religion handed down to them from their parents. Or, perhaps, their walk with Jesus began in a flurry of relationship, but eventually descended into a turgid life of following rigid rules.

Contrast that tragic reality against this simple statement from God to His people:

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. (NRSV)

There’s a passion there … there’s a yearning in the great and mighty heart of God for His people, a yearning that’s simply not reciprocated in the heart of many a Christ-follower. In stark contrast, A.W. Tozer writes that:

The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the spirit of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.

Now a “religion” with a throbbing heart, with a passionate interchange between the Creator and the created … that’s something that I can sign up to. That’s something that I want. How about you?

Don’t allow your throbbing heart for God to be dulled, placated, robbed, by passionless religion. Call to Him and He will answer you!

That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.