In order to truly know God, one must seek absolute truth, and it is crucial for the seeker to be open to receiving that truth.
Christ wasn’t received by the religious leaders because they were stubborn and refused to see the works and true nature of God that Yeshua displayed. They would not give up their beliefs.
They were a very proud group of men who didn’t appreciate this nobody from the ghetto of Nazareth telling them that they were wrong.
When I was first discovering the spiritual path that God was leading me on and as I was being led out of religion, it was literally painful.
All the teachings that I had learned since birth had to be evaluated in the light of God, some I kept and others I had to throw out.
The ones that I did not want to give up had to be cut away. It felt as if an invisible scalpel was dissecting the core of my inner being. It was very difficult, but I wanted to know the absolute truth.
Christ tells a parable that illustrates this concept in Matthew chapter 13.
Yeshua said, “the kingdom of heaven is like a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to the shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.”
He later continued, “therefore, every scribe which is instructed into the kingdom of God is like a man that is a householder, which brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.”
The scribes were the lawyers of their day, and they were saturated with the laws of Moses. Therefore, if they were going to walk in the spiritual kingdom of God, they had to keep some of their beliefs and discard others.
During those early days that I was coming out of the Christian religion, I was thankful for the things that I could keep, like, that Christ is the way to God. I was so thankful for my upbringing to teach me that.
However, I had to discard a lot of things I had learned that did not line up with the teachings of Christ and his spiritual kingdom. I had to do the hard work, and God was my tutor.
I am not here to teach people what they need to keep or throw out, that is God’s job.
I am here to tell you that if you want to walk in the spiritual kingdom of God, you have to come out of religion, sort through the mess, and seek God’s truth.
Not only was it painful and difficult to come out, it was frightening.
Paul really did a number on people with that passage of Satan being disguised as an angel of light.
I can remember growing up hearing my mother and grandmother being overly focused on the fear that Satan was hiding behind every corner, just ready to deceive.
So, as I was seeking truth, it was very scary, because what I was finding was SO different than the religion that I had been taught.
At times, it was almost panic inducing, because of the fear that had been instilled into me as a child.
And, the way that I dealt with it was to go to God and ask for help. I wanted to know the absolute truth, and it was during that time that I learned how to trust God.
Like Christ taught, God is a loving Father and if you ask Him for bread, He will not give you a stone. If you ask Him for a fish, He will not give you something evil, like a serpent.
I stood on those words until they became second nature to my thought processes, and the fear melted away.
I found it to be true concerning what Christ said, “my sheep know my voice, and another they will not follow.”
As I shed the religion, the fear and anxiety dissipated, and were replaced by peace and a solid knowing of how I fit into the spiritual kingdom of God.