Yes, I am a Christian and Yes, I love Jesus, but I hate religion.

God is the peanut butter to my jelly, the charger to my iPhone. There is no way I could live this life without him, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I talk to him before I do anything in life, from what new Starbucks drink I'm going to try or what I should say to the guy who bumped into me in the hallway. I go to him for any and everything. I am a human so I mess up constantly, It's natural. When I do mess up, I'm afraid that I lost sight of God and he walked away from me, but every time I turn around, he tells me "it's okay, WE will try again".

He's standing at the same spot he has always been since the moment I realized that he was there. He has yet to move a teeny nudge. That's our relationship and I trust him with everything I have in me because our relationship is that rock-solid.

That's why I hate religion.

You go to church every Sunday, read your bible and don't use curse words; you have a pretty solid relationship with God, and you got your ticket straight to heaven!

Religion.

You praise God in church on Sundays but once you walk out of church you continue to sin for your pleasure, but hey, that's okay, at least you're going to church on Sundays!

Religion.

That person who bumped into you at the grocery store had it coming when you said harsh words to them so he could know how annoyed you were, but at least you paid for someone's Starbucks earlier that day so, it okay.

Religion.

God speaks to us and loves us just like any other kind of relationship we have, but religion gets in the way of us seeing Gods true love and distracts us from something so pure and genuine. It gets in the way of us being vulnerable to him and allowing room for growth.

Religion is a mask to cover up any imperfections with rules to show society that we must be a certain way.

Religion was made to be perfect.

While I am away for college, I was blessed to find a church family. All wonderful normal people living different lives, but one thing we have in common is our love for Jesus. We come together to worship, pray and to love on one another.

No rules and no expectations.

It took me finding this church to realize there shouldn't be rules to loving someone let alone Jesus.

That's an unhealthy relationship with society that many of us believe. We believe that we must be perfect, or people won't love us.It's okay to be who we are and it's okay to mess up.

I was once a religious person. I didn't have that genuine connection with God that I have now because I was so caught up in making sure I wore the right thing to church or said the right things. I wanted to prove to people that I love Jesus but, wasn't proving to God himself that I loved him.

I was caught up in living for the people around me and not for God himself. Once I dropped that attitude and decided that I wanted a real relationship with God everything changed, and I began hating religion more and more, but God and I became closer and again I wouldn't change it for anything.

So, I am not religious

but I do love Jesus.