Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Why are you a (insert your religion here)? Is your answer affiliated with a family member?

I was witnessing to an Indonesian man who confessed he was not a good (named religion). I asked him why. His answer didn’t surprise me at all. “Because I do not do what is required.” That didn’t surprise me because many Christians are the same way. We do not have a lock on failed behaviors.

Naturally my next question was; “Why do you call yourself a (named religion)?” His answer was as I expected. “Because I love my father.”

I’ve not named that religion because it is irrelevant. If your allegiance is to a person you love then your religion is false and of no use to you. I have heard many say I worshipped my father. Their father was not God. The (named religion) expects adherence to principles. Christianity is no different.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

When we think lust we do not think love of a parent, but to place a parent’s love before God is a form of idol worship, an act of love of the flesh. It is not spiritual in nature and the reason my friend could not do those things which were principles of his religion. His allegiance is to flesh.

I honestly did not pledge my allegiance to God until after my father’s death. It was a gracious God who allowed me to live that long because I would have been lost to Him if I had died before my father. That is a truth I did not understand until after I accepted Christ as my Lord.