Session 3

Being religious doesn’t make you good

From Titus: An 8-Day Devotional

Religious people are bad. They are ready to tell everyone else what they're doing wrong. They proclaim the reasons others will never measure up and explain why those people are all going to hell in a handbasket.

Religious people aren't humble or helpful. They don't pay attention to their own shortcomings or try to address their own issues. They are perfect in their own eyes. They are poison.

In Paul's letter to Titus, he unpacks the difference between religion and faith, between rules one ascribes to and a life transformed by truth. Paying attention to "merely human commands" is the same as rejecting the truth, he tells us. Nothing is pure to those who are corrupted, because "both their minds and consciences are corrupted" (Titus 1:14-15). No good action will save us. Only God can purify us and make our actions worth the effort. 

Following rules won't make you good.

During Jesus’ life on Earth, He condemned religious people by exposing their hypocrisy: "[Y]ou Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness" (Luke 11:39). Jesus didn't give His life to save us so we'd be good rule followers. He saved us so we could be one with Him. To live in victory now and in eternity. Following rules won't make you good. You've got to be transformed by the power of a good God. 

Reflect

• Have you tried to do something that seemed good but was really selfishly motivated?
• What would have made your actions pure?