If That Religion Brings No Change, That Religion Is in Vain

James 1:26-27 warns, "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

Is your religion really changing your heart, pervading your manners and transforming you into a new creature or has it made you worse?  The problem with manmade religion and its focus on ritualism is that it is nothing more than a change of rituals, not a real change of character.  I have observed how people convert from one religion to another but there is really no real transformation.  One may go ahead and learn a different ritual like the Rosary or claim to "speak in tongues" but if there is really no change of heart, no pervading of manners and no transformation into new creatures then there is really no true and real conversion.

The Christian religion is not about ritualism but entering into a loving a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This relationship is in John 10:26-29 says, "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."  Obedience characterizes the follower of Jesus Christ which stems from one's gratitude of being saved in spite of one's fallen state.