Are you really religious?

One of the oldest statements that I usually come across: “I’m a religious person.”

It’s become a four-worded excuse that I believe needs rethinking, judging by what I’ve seen lately.

What is it that makes you religious, or qualifies you to be a man or woman of God? Are you a church regular? Do you pray constantly? Or did you get born into a religious family and had no choice but to follow the family’s religion of choice?

I can honestly tell you that because of the life I live which involves lots of travel, I’m barely fortunate enough to attend church at least twice a month. But I make sure I say my prayers the moment I wake up and before I fall asleep every day. In times of stress or when someone is going through an intense setback such as an illness or unemployment period, I pray with or for that individual. During my most difficult periods, I prayed extra hard and sometimes had a rosary clutched in my hands before I fell asleep.

Even if that doesn’t make me religious to some people, the least I’m doing is trusting God in the way that I was taught.

But here’s what I’ve scrolled through in the past few days from certain people who claim to be religious:

-- People praying for a certain movement but not praying for the other. That tells me you’re hoping your side eliminates the other. That’s not praying for hope and peace. That’s praying for division, which is what the devil wants.

-- People praying that their favorite presidential candidate gets sworn into office, or their least favorite candidate doesn’t even sniff the oval office. That’s as bad as praying for a team to win, which is something that I and even private schools with a religious backdrop never do. A reminder to those people, God doesn’t control the voting ballots. An entire nation does.

-- People praying for others to get injured or have some form of karma do them in. You basically want someone to inflict punishment on others. Works of the devil because he wants that.

We need to re-think the four-worded statement before we blurt it out to others. The last thing you want to be labeled as is someone who used religion in a hypocritical manner. Sadly, people like that do exist in the world. Don’t fall into that category. Much like the athletes I cover and the ones we embrace and idolize on television, we too have to practice like them – but ours is practicing religion more often. We need to spend more time uplifting others through prayer and through understanding, not by choosing which side we should take or dare someone to leave their side. Let's heal, not hate. Let's forgive, not keep things bottled up inside.

I'll end this by sharing Colossians 3:13-14: