Identifying True Religion
If you can understand the above factors, you can identify the true religion. It is the religion Jesus practiced of selfless service to mankind and whole-souled devotion to the Father.
Today, all Christian denominations are seeking to follow Christ to the best of their ability. Some have truer facts in their belief system than do others. But all of them are offshoots and derivatives of the true religion of Jesus.
What is now needed is a turning to the religion of Jesus instead of practicing a religion about Jesus. True religion today must adopt the same beliefs and teachings that Jesus himself held nearly 2000 years ago. Doctrines may be refined, and facts may be updated, but true worship and true religion remain unchanged.
To the extent that our doctrines need refinement, true worshipers are open to that refinement. They know that coming to an accurate knowledge of truth is a gradual process – and some are further along in the process than are others. For this reason, Jesus counseled:
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
– Matthew 7:1-5
He also counseled:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
– Matthew 7:7-8
That being the case, true worshipers must be humble and understand that they do not know it all. They will need to make progressive adjustments in their beliefs, though their heartfelt worship and selfless religion will remain unchanged and steadfast.
True worshipers are willing to make those adjustments. They have a keen desire to please the Father and are willing to be molded by the Spirit of Truth, knowing that there is always more to learn:
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”
– John 16:12-13
So, as long as there is breath in our bodies, there is an opportunity to turn to true worship and to the true religion of Jesus Christ. When we do, we will be able to identify ourselves as true worshipers of the Father who practice the true religion of brotherly love and selfless service to mankind, no matter what offshoot or derivative we are associated with.
