People often ask me, “Are you religious?” My answer to them is always, "No."

Don’t be mistaken, I love the Bible and I believe in sin.

But I hate religion.

And so does God.

Don’t believe me? In the book of Amos, a devout follower and minister of God, he proclaims his hate by saying, “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.” Amos 5:21-24.

So what do I believe in? Faith.

Faith is relationship. The Christian faith is all about making relationships, keeping relationships and helping others develop a relationship with Christ. Faith is the day in and day out battle to live a life like Christ. Faith is understanding that grace prevails and we are made pure again through intimate and intentional relationship with Christ.

Now I am not going to sit here and tell you to become a Christian or change your current beliefs, but I really want to hit home that being “religious” is not the correct approach to having a healthy relationship with whatever God or Savior you choose to believe in.

In my personal walk with Christ I have transformed and changed my thinking away from “living by the rules” to an open and honest way of life. Religion starts to creep into your life when you are constantly under the impression that you are under contract. Just like an employee would be under contract, many times people feel like they are working for God rather than living for God. There is no intimacy. No inner relationship. Just a feeling of closed dialogue and the thought that if you do the right thing you will be granted permission into heaven.

Go to a Christian school, listen to Christian music, and watch Christian TV shows and movies. That’s what a “religious” person would tell you. If you do those things, you will somehow be a better person and twinkle a star in God’s eye. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do attend a Christian college and from time to time I blast some Lecrae in my car or watch a lame Christian show or movie, but I do not do those things just because it is the “right” to do. When you get so caught up in doing the right thing, you forget to see the world around you. As Christians, we need to be everywhere. Secular or non-secular school, it doesn’t really matter as long as you stay rooted and create positive and impactful relationships along the way.

The last thing I will bring to the table is that religion uses fear as motivation. “You better read the Bible every day, go to church every Sunday and pray before every meal or you will spend eternity in hell.” No. When you turn to the “I better do this or I am going to hell” mentality, you have lost. I quickly figured out that I can’t go through life constantly scared if my every move determines if it will earn me a place in Heaven or not. So what is the correct approach? Love and relationship. Make friends, fall in love and impact each and every single person you come in contact with in a positive way. No, you don’t have to preach the Gospel with every person you see today, but you can always strive to make his or her day better.

Smile a little and have fun because knowing that you have a relationship with Christ is the only thing in life that truly matters.