Killing Christians: One Year Bible Reading for May 27

 Today we read these verses in the One Year Bible:

2 Samuel 12:1-31
John 16:1-33
Psalm 119:65-80
Proverbs 16:4-5

Let's look at John. Jesus says some shocking things here. He says that His followers are going to be thrown out of the synagogues. And then Jewish people are going to start killing them. And when the Jewish people kill the Christians, they're going to think they're doing it for God.

Now, that makes sense when you think of Paul. Paul (aka Saul) was hunting down Christians and killing them. He thought he was doing it out of holy zeal, and doing it for God. But God smacked Paul and knocked him off his horse. He said, "Why are you persecuting Me?" and Paul became a Christian.

Because He KNEW Jesus. That's what Jesus said in today's reading. "They will think they're doing God's will by killing you BECAUSE they don't know Me or the Father." That's what religious zeal without a relationship with Jesus will do to you.

Is religion bad? NO! Religion is how we worship God and learn more about Him. But we can't have religion without a relationship with Jesus, or it turns into doing evil things with holy zeal.

So what does that mean today? It means that we need to share our relationship with Jesus with other people. If we just share our religious beliefs (like "abortion is wrong" or "save sex for marriage!") they're going to only see our zeal and it will push people away. But when you share your relationship with Jesus, it makes your religion make sense and fall into place.

God, thanks for teaching us that we need to share our relationship with You, and not just our religious beliefs.