When you’re taught all of your life that there’s only one way to do things, then you grow up believing that way is the right way. Only one make of car is good, only one sports team is superior, only one brand of mayo tastes just right (okay, so that one is true, and it’s Dukes 😁).

We do that with church. With denominations. With interpretations. With traditions. The traditions become so embedded in our faith that we don’t know them from the Truth. We are taught that our denomination is the only one that’s right, and it’s superior to all the others. We’re taught that our denomination is the only way to Heaven and all others are heretics, headed straight to hell.

If you question anything, suddenly your salvation is questioned. If you doubt something, you were never saved in the first place.

Guys, it’s not a competition. I have been raised in and have worshipped in a particular denomination all of my life – and it’s been hard to separate the traditions from the Truth. I didn’t stray from that denomination for fear of “losing my religion”. But in the past few years, I’ve been “exploring”, and it’s opened my eyes and heart to different ways of worship. I’ve been taught how to love like Jesus loves. To walk like Jesus walked. To see like Jesus saw.

And it’s different from what I was used to.

The sad thing is that a lot of our churches reach in but they don’t reach out. It becomes a club, not a congregation. Our worship services are more like an entertainment venue than a sanctuary of the most High God.

It’s like the old joke says: A group of people got to Heaven and they were taken on a tour. They went down a hallway filled with rooms. Each room had the name of a different denomination on the door. The tour guide read them each outloud to the group. As they approached the last door, the tour guide stopped them and said, “We need to be quiet when we go past this room. It’s the Baptist room, and they think they’re the only ones here”.

It’s tongue in cheek, but it’s true. And the name on that last door is interchangeable.

It’s time we explore our faith and see how serious we are. And quit thinking our way is the only way – we’ll, except for Dukes mayonnaise 😉.

There is only one Way, and that is Jesus. We need to serve Him better, respect Him more, and love Him completely.