Greetings from Scotland

Religion vs. Relationship

The picture to your left is of the Abbey at Iona, Scotland. It's founder Columba came to Scotland's shores in the 6th century after having to flee Ireland because of his involvement in a petty dispute over the ownership of a manuscript. This little dispute evolved into a tribal conflict that left over 3000 dead. After he was forced to flee the country, Columba vowed not to return until he led as many pagans to Christ as he killed on the battle feild. It was here on Iona that a major change happened in his life. He was no longer the head strong soldier of Ireland, but according to his biographer, he became a very loving, kind person with a great concern for the poor. Sounds like he had a real encounter with the living Christ. This is what the gospel is all about and why I wanted to tell this story in my first post on the new blog.
Columba was very religious while living in Ireland but he wasn't engaged in a real relationship with Jesus. He had what some would now call a seminary degree studying under Finnian and graduating from Whithorn, but he didn't have that life giving relationship with his creator, Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, that is the story of many who fill the pews in churches today, " having a form of godliness but denying it's power..." - 2 Timothy 3:5 Jesus isn't impressed with your church attendance or even if you have a seminary degree, are a pastor or a missionary if you haven't made the great u-turn in life and started trusting and following Jesus instead of your latest wim and personal passion. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3 "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." So why do we have to be born again? What was the problem with our first birth? Because of Adam's sin (which contaminated the whole human race and all of our surroundings) we are all born with a sin nature, a natural gravitation towards that which is wrong. If you don't believe me you probably don't have children. We didn't have to teach our children to do bad things, they figured it all out on their own. So, the idea here is to be born again into Christ by putting our trust and faith in Him andHis death and resurrection for our sins. By doing this we take on a new nature where sin becomes the unatural thing rather than the natural. - Romans 8:9
So, if you are living a religious life as Columba once did, I would encourage you to make that great u-turn in life and follow the real living Christ and experience a peace that transcends all understanding.
God bless you,
Marc