Piggy Back Rides

I used to love a piggy back ride when I was a kid, and my kids do too. It's a hug and a free lift, all in one. But, you have to admit it is the ultimate in laziness, and a bit risky as well, because if the one you're riding on falls, you're going down with them.


I've lingered in the book of John for the last week. I love how the Bible comes to life, and brings new meaning, even after reading the same passages time and time again. I read John 7 and John 8 (you can click on it to read it in it's entirety). Just to sum it up, it was the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the most important of the Jewish festivals. Everyone went up to Jerusalem to celebrate. (Makes me think of Christmas and Easter...when people, who all year long have had nothing to do with God, show up at a building, and pay honor to the God of their ancestors out of some sort of obligation.) According to the Jewish tradition, it is a seven day festival that celebrates the bountiful harvest, and ends in the day of the "Great Hosanna", a time when they pray for the Messiah to come. Jesus went up secretly, but it's impossible to hide the Light in darkness. Soon, he was teaching in the temple, and the whole crowd was there. The Chief Priests and the Pharisees were listening, and becoming more angry with each word Jesus spoke. After all, they were the only ones who were only supposed to teach the Book of the law (the part of the Bible that had been written and the religious laws that accompanied it up to that point in history).

How fitting it was that Jesus chose this last day of the festival to go to Jerusalem. He was an answer to their many devout prayers that day, for the Messiah to come, yet they didn't even recognize Him. How many times have we prayed and prayed, and the answer came right away, and we didn't even see it, because it wasn't the answer we expected or wanted. Thousands, I am sure. But that's not what jumped out at me. What leapt off the page was how the people spoke to Jesus, and the way He responded to them. The Priests and the Pharisees (the most religious people of all at that time) spoke to the Son of God as if he was a lunatic. Can you imagine being face to face with the incarnate God, and having the audacity to insult Him, mock Him, and disregard Him? They were the elite of the Jewish religion. They were the "mature" of the faith. They had the Mosaic law written on their foreheads. Yet, in all their piety, with all their head knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they had no revelation of their own, and were completely ignorant as to whom was standing before them. They had a "piggy-back" religious experience. Abraham knew God. Isaac and Jacob were intimately acquainted with the Lord. The Jewish people of Jesus’ time studied their forefathers religiously, yet did not really know God. The faith of their fathers was such a powerful faith, that they could feel it, and were caught up in it. Unfortunately, when those descendents died, all that remained was the past encounters with God, and the laws they were forced to follow. These testimonies were powerful, but were never meant to replace the daily revelation that God wants all his people to experience. The freshness of the presence of God was replaced by the staleness of tradition, religion and law. It is a religious spirit that is sent to distract us from knowing God. To give us a false sense of security that we are just fine, because we are doing what we were taught. How crafty of Satan to use yesterday's faith to trick us into thinking we know God. Even though I grew up in a Bible believing, Pentecostal church and home, I had a "piggy-back" faith when I was little. My parents had experienced God in miraculous ways, and I remember my Mom daily in her Bible, getting fresh "manna" from heaven. She was a prayer warrior. She knew God. I only knew the God of my Mother. For many children, this is the case. It is our job as parents to teach our faith, and live our faith in front of our children. Then when they grow up, that relationship that they have watched for years should launch them into having their own, personal relationship with God. I never made that transition, and when I became an adult, and was faced with serious sin and problems, and I had no real power for myself. Having faith in someone else's faith doesn't work. I had to come to a place in my life where I desired to know God for myself. I finally did, when I was 22 years old, and what a difference it has made in my life!

In many churches today, that same spirit of religion is alive. It is no respecter of denomination. Catholic and Protestant, Baptist and Pentecostal alike. If the people are following the faith of someone else, and have no personal encounter with God for themselves, they are left to lean on tradition and rules. After all, the "church" is not a building or a denomination, but rather a group of people who know God. The buildings that we go to on Sunday are just a place for the Church to gather together. Lately, I have encountered many well intentioned people, who are filled with this religious spirit. I, at times, have to struggle to keep my walk with the Lord fresh, and battle to stay in His presence daily. When I feed my spirit with God's word and His presence, I know God more and more. I call myself a Christian, which means that I am striving to be Christ-like. How can I be like Christ, if I don't really know him? My deepest desire is to know Him.