The Cold Spirit of Religion

The spirit of religion, cold and judgmental, stands in stark contrast to the love of Jesus. Where Jesus walks in grace, compassion, and mercy, this spirit preaches a brittle gospel of rules and rigid discipline. It whispers of condemnation, not salvation, and insists on perfection rather than progress. It grips the hearts of those who seek righteousness, binding them in chains of shame and guilt, convincing them that love must be earned and holiness is measured by works alone.

But Jesus, full of kindness, never demanded such things. He reached out to the broken, the sinner, the lost-not with harsh rebukes, but with open arms and tender words of healing. His mission was not to crush the bruised reed but to lift it up, to breathe life into weary souls. The Pharisees of His time, obsessed with their laws and traditions, couldn’t understand this radical grace. They saw only rules to follow, people to condemn, and differences to divide.

The spirit of religion, even today, often leads people astray, seducing them into thinking that faith is about control, fear, and relentless judgment. It tells them that discipline is the highest virtue, that every mistake is a mark of failure. But they have been misled. True faith is rooted in love, not in rigid obedience. It seeks transformation from the inside out, not just external compliance. The spirit of religion ruins because it reduces the living God to a distant taskmaster, stripping away the personal, relational nature of faith that Jesus offers.

The fruit of such misguided beliefs is evident in the way some wield their righteousness like a sword, cutting down those they believe to be lesser. But Jesus calls us to be shepherds, not gatekeepers. He shows us that discipline without grace, judgment without mercy, is hollow. Those who are obsessed with condemnation have missed the point entirely-they have exchanged the freedom found in Christ for the bondage of legalism.

The truth is, Jesus came to set us free. His message is one of love, not fear, of restoration, not ruin. The spirit of religion divides, but Jesus unites. The spirit of religion destroys, but Jesus heals.

B🤍

Originally published at http://thepedophilehuntress.com on October 17, 2024.