I want to tell you something that maybe nobody told you before.
God isn’t looking for you just to show up at church.
He’s not grading you on how many times you take communion or say prayers.
What God actually wants — is you.
Your heart. Your trust. Your real, messy, honest self.
Jesus didn’t come to Earth, live a perfect life, die on a cross, and rise again just so we could sit in pews once a week.
He came to invite us into something way bigger — a real relationship where you actually know Him and walk with Him every day.
Going to Mass, receiving sacraments — those are good things.
They’re like road signs pointing you toward God.
But the signs aren’t the destination.
Imagine if you’re on a road trip to the beach, and you stop at every sign that says “Beach 10 miles” — but you never actually get to the beach.
You’d miss the whole point, right?
It’s the same with faith.
The signs (Mass, sacraments, prayers) are there to guide you — but the real goal is getting to the place where you KNOW God personally.
God loves you not because you earn it. He loves you because He made you.
He’s not waiting for you to be perfect.
He’s waiting for you to trust Him.
So next time you’re at church, don’t just go through the motions.
Talk to Him.
Open your heart.
Say something real.
That’s what He’s listening for.”
Galatians 4:1-7
Galatians 4:1–7 is a deeply theological passage where the Apostle Paul uses an analogy to explain the transformation that takes place when someone becomes a child of God through faith in Christ. Here’s a breakdown of what it means:
Verses 1–2:
“What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.”
Meaning:
Paul uses a Roman legal analogy. Even though a child is an heir, he has no real freedom or authority until he reaches the age his father sets. Until then, he is under the control of others, much like a slave.
Verse 3:
“So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.”
Meaning:
Before faith in Christ, people (especially Jews under the Law and Gentiles under pagan systems) were enslaved to “elemental spiritual forces” — basic principles, religious rituals, or demonic influences that dominated their lives. Paul equates this immaturity with spiritual slavery.
Verses 4–5:
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
Meaning:
At the perfect moment in history, God sent Jesus — fully human and born under the Jewish Law — to rescue (redeem) humanity from spiritual slavery. The purpose was to adopt us as His children, giving us full rights as heirs.
Verse 6:
“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.'”
Meaning:
This adoption isn’t just legal—it’s relational. Believers receive the Holy Spirit, who creates intimacy with God, even allowing us to call Him “Abba” (an Aramaic word for “Dad” or “Papa”), showing deep personal connection.
Verse 7:
“So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”
Meaning:
The result of salvation is complete freedom and identity in God’s family. You’re no longer spiritually enslaved, but a full heir to God’s promises through Christ.
Summary:
Paul teaches that believers are no longer bound by religious systems or spiritual slavery. Through Christ, they are adopted as children of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and made heirs to God’s kingdom. It’s about moving from law to grace, slavery to freedom, and distance to intimacy with God.
“Are we just checking spiritual boxes—or are we truly walking with God?”
We attend church. We sin. We confess. We repeat.
But is this a real relationship with God… or just a religious cycle?
Paul reminds us:
We weren’t saved to be robots following rituals.
We were adopted—into a living, breathing relationship with the Father.
We’ve moved from law to grace, from slavery to freedom, from ritual to intimacy.
So here’s the question:
🕊️ Are we just going through the motions… or are we walking in the Spirit as true sons and daughters of God?
“Believing in God is not the same as walking with Him.”
When my son was preparing for his Catholic confirmation, part of the requirement was to do community service—a beautiful opportunity to live out faith through action.
But what happened broke my heart…
The kids were clueless.
The teachers were unsure how to guide them.
And when they turned to the parents for help… most were hesitant too.
No one knew how to serve.
No one had been taught how to live their faith.
And yet—we all say we believe in God.
This was a clear wake-up call:
Are we raising a generation that knows how to follow rituals but not how to follow Christ?
Have we gotten so comfortable going to church that we’ve forgotten how to be the Church?
God never called us to robotic religion.
He called us to relationship.
To walk with Him. To love like Him. To serve like Him.
🕊️ Belief without action is empty.
Faith without movement is dead.
Worship without a heart for people is just noise.
Let’s not just raise churchgoers.
Let’s raise Jesus-followers.
📜 How Ritual Replaced Relationship: A Quick Journey Through Church History
1. Early Church (30–300 AD): Simple Faith
- Early Christians (like in the Book of Acts) had simple, house-based worship: prayer, reading Scripture, breaking bread (communion), and singing.
- Faith in Jesus was central. Rituals were very few — baptism and communion were important, but were understood as expressions of real, living faith.
👉 Relationship with God was direct, alive, and based on trust in Jesus.
2. After 300 AD: The Church Becomes Official
- In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire.
- Suddenly, Christianity moved from small gatherings to big public churches (like basilicas).
- Worship became more formal, modeled after Roman court ceremonies — robes, incense, rituals, and strict orders of service.
👉 Rituals became important for order and unity, but over time, people started associating rituals with salvation itself.
3. Middle Ages (500–1500 AD): Ritual Overwhelms the Gospel
- Literacy dropped. Most people couldn’t read the Bible for themselves.
- Priests, bishops, and popes controlled access to teaching and sacraments.
- The church began teaching that sacraments were necessary for salvation — meaning you needed to:
- Be baptized,
- Take communion,
- Go to confession,
- Get last rites before death, to hope for heaven.
👉 Many people believed “If I go through these steps, I’m safe” — even if they had no personal faith.
✅ GOOD: The Church wanted to guide people.
⚠️ BAD: It unintentionally made many think that rituals save you, not Jesus saves you.
4. The Reformation (1500s): Wake-Up Call
- Martin Luther and others (Reformers) said: “Wait! The Bible says we are saved by faith, not by works or rituals!”
- Luther emphasized verses like: “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)
- The Protestant Reformation challenged:
- The misuse of sacraments,
- The selling of indulgences (paying for forgiveness),
- The idea that church rituals controlled salvation.
👉 This led to the creation of Protestant churches, which focused more on faith in Christ alone and direct relationship with God.
5. Modern Catholic Church (Today):
- The Catholic Church today officially teaches that faith and grace are necessary (Vatican II, 1960s), but…
- In practice, many Catholics still confuse doing the sacraments with having real faith — especially if they are not personally taught the gospel clearly.
✅ The Church teaches you must have a living faith.
⚠️ But many experience it as “Just go through the motions and you’re good.”
Rituals originally helped people remember and worship.
But over centuries, they became mistaken for the way to salvation.
Now, many young people don’t even realize God is inviting them to real love and relationship — not just church attendance.