You may preach a religion about Jesus, but… you must live the religion of Jesus.[1]
From the pulpit, preachers present sermons to guide parishioners in their faith, but listening to the preaching is a passive interaction. The vital aspect of religion is an inner certainty: how it affects the individual and changes the inner life of each religionist. If listeners leave the church after the sermon and continue in the same selfish and materialistic ways, the church and our society will have problems. Their inner life has not been changed. The advances of true civilization are all born in this inner world of mankind. It is only the inner life that is truly creative.[2]{I expect our next posting will be a discussion of our inner life. Stay tuned!}
In this posting we discuss the religion of Jesus and what it is like. What this planet needs is people of faith living the religion of Jesus, how do we accomplish this?
…in the human life of Jesus faith was personal, living, original, spontaneous, and purely spiritual. This faith was… a sublime experience and a profound conviction which securely held him. His faith was so real and all-encompassing that it absolutely swept away any spiritual doubts and effectively destroyed every conflicting desire.[3]
Tradition is a strong component in many religions. We find comfort in having the faith of our fathers and following tradition. This is not the religion of Jesus. His religion is personal, actively seeking to do the will of our Heavenly Father. Each one of us is a unique individual; therefore no single set of dogma can fully satisfy the spiritual needs of everyone. We must seek our Father’s will as applied to our personal, spiritual and individual needs.
Our faith must be real and all-encompassing; we cannot create compartments in our lives and declare religion does not apply there, for example in our business or political activities.
The concept of God as a Father was not original with Jesus, but he exalted and elevated the idea into a sublime experience by achieving a new revelation of God and by proclaiming that every mortal creature is a child of this Father of love, a son of God.[4]
Every mortal is equally a child of our Heavenly Father. This means each of our sisters and brothers must be treated equally regardless of any superficial differences such as skin color, religion, or any other excuse for bigotry. We are all equally a child of our Heavenly Father; this Father is filled with love for each of His children. This is especially important to realize in these times of discord and prejudice.
In his day, Jesus certainly faced anger and violence, even death, but through it all he experienced the tranquility of supreme and unquestioned trust in God and felt the tremendous thrill of living, by faith, in the very presence of the heavenly Father.[5] Since each of us is indwelt by a “spark of God,”[6] each of us also lives in the very presence of our Heavenly Father. This truth must be our moral foundation, it has to be what we base our faith upon; it is the basis of our personal religious experiences. When we fully realize this we begin to live the religion of Jesus.
What is the substance of this religion, how should we proceed? Jesus brought to God, as a man of the realm, the greatest of all offerings: the consecration and dedication of his own will to the majestic service of doing the divine will. Jesus always and consistently interpreted religion wholly in terms of the Father’s will.[7] If we consecrate before Heavenly Father our dedication to do His will, that is the greatest offering we could possibly give. Once this has been given we will KNOW Father’s will.
Jesus was a mature man who had triumphed over many hardships. The most trying of these came when he was fourteen years old; his father suddenly died of an injury at work. Jesus became the head of a family consisting of his mother and seven brothers and sisters. His baby sister Ruth had not been born yet. He cheerfully fulfilled all responsibilities which had been suddenly thrust upon him. Throughout it all, the religion of Jesus is filled with trust like that of a child. His faith could be strong because he had no fear; he fully trusted his Heavenly Father.[8]
Jesus does not require his disciples to believe in him but rather to believe with him, believe in the reality of the love of God and in full confidence accept the security of the assurance of sonship with the heavenly Father.[9]
The religion of Jesus totally depends on the presence of Heavenly Father in our daily lives; we trust His guidance at all times. Even when terrible things happened to him, Jesus stood firm in his faith. This faith is simple, yet profound in its consequences.
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all references are to the one column version of The Urantia Book, in the format page.paragraph; 2091.10
[2] 1220.2
[3] 2087.5
[4] 2087.2
[5] 2087.3
[6] Bible; I Corinthians 3:16
[7] 2088.5
[8] 2089.1
[9] 2089.3