Is Tradition a Prison keeping you from God?
VideoTranscript
This is the video’s transcript, lightly formatted. Tap a time to jump to that moment.
A dirt road in Jerusalem, sandals kicking up dust, the afternoon sun bearing down mercilessly. And there he was, Saul of Tarsus, breathing out murderous threats against anyone who dared to follow this new way, this radical departure from the traditions he'd known his entire life. He had letters in his pouch, official documents giving him authority to arrest these heretics, these dangerous people who claimed that God had done something new, something that didn't fit the established religious boxes.
Saul was brilliant. He knew the scriptures backward and forward. He'd studied under the greatest teachers. He was, as he would later describe himself, a Hebrew of Hebrews, zealous for the traditions of his fathers in Philippians 3:5. And in that zeal, that absolute certainty that he had all the light he needed, he was about to encounter something that would shatter everything he thought he knew about God. Suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him. Not the familiar light of the sun, not the comforting glow of the temple lamps he'd known all his life, but something entirely different.
He fell to the ground and a voice spoke, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" In Acts 9:4, can you imagine the confusion, the terror? This zealous defender of tradition, this guardian of the old ways, suddenly confronted by a light so bright it knocked him off his feet literally. When he asked who was speaking, the answer must have sent shock waves through his entire being. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
In that moment, everything Saul thought he knew about serving God was turned upside down. The traditions he defended so fiercely, the interpretations he'd held so tightly, the old light he'd been following. Suddenly, it all seemed dim compared to this new revelation. He'd been so sure he was defending God's truth, but he'd actually been fighting against it. For three days, Saul was blind. Three days of darkness, where the man who thought he could see everything clearly couldn't see anything at all. It's almost as if God was saying, "You need to unlearn what you think you know before you can truly see."
When Ananas came to pray for him, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes. Scales like he'd been a snake shedding an old skin, like he'd been looking through something that distorted his vision all along. And when those scales fell away, Saul could finally see, not just physically, but spiritually. The old way he'd been following hadn't been wrong exactly, but it had been incomplete. It had become a box that couldn't contain the fullness of what God was doing. Now, you might be thinking, "Well, that's a dramatic story, but what does it have to do with me?" Let me ask you something.
Have you ever felt like you're going through the religious motions, but missing the reality? Have you ever sensed that there might be more to your spiritual journey than what you've been taught? Have you ever wondered if some of the traditions and interpretations you've inherited might actually be keeping you from the experience of the fullness of God's presence? See, here's what happened to Saul that day on the Damascus road. He discovered that God is bigger than our religious boxes. He learned that sometimes what we call defending faith is actually defending our limited understanding of it. He realized that the old way he'd been following, those traditional interpretations, those inherited ways of seeing God, had actually prevented him from recognizing God when he showed up in a new way.
And this is where it gets personal for us today. Recent research shows that many people are finding themselves spiritually stuck, feeling like they don't belong or don't fit in their religious communities anymore. They love the people but feel a deep inner knowing that the divine is pulling them toward a spiritual path that those around them may not understand. That sound familiar?
Maybe you've been taught that God is distant, that you have to work hard to earn his approval, that you're fundamentally a sinner who can never be good enough. Maybe you've been following a way that says you need a human intermediary to reach God. that your access to the divine is limited, that you're meant to stay small and insignificant.
Maybe you've been told that questioning is dangerous, that tradition is more important than transformation, that staying in the box is safer than stepping into the vast expanse of God's love. But what if, just what if, some of those old ways are actually obscuring the true light? What if, like Saul, you've been so focused on defending what you've always known that you're missing what God is trying to reveal to you right now? Jesus himself addressed this issue when he spoke to the religious leaders of his day. They were following their tradition so closely that they couldn't recognize the light of the world standing right in front of them. He told them, "You study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me.
Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39-4. They had light, the scriptures, the traditions, the religious practices, but they turned them into a substitute for the real thing. They were so committed to their interpretation of the light that they couldn't see the light himself standing in front of them. People today are increasingly finding themselves on what researchers call a spiritual but not religious path. They have to face the fear of leaving communities, shedding fear-based beliefs, and finding their path often in the dark with a sense of feeling alone. It's a difficult process, but for a lot of people, it's necessary for authentic spiritual growth.
Now, I want to be clear about something here. I'm not saying tradition is bad. I'm not saying that the wisdom of those who came before us has no value. Truth is truth, whether it was spoken yesterday or a thousand years ago. The problem isn't with the truth itself. It's with our limited understanding of it. Our tendency to turn living truth into dead dogma.
Our habit of making God smaller to fit our comprehension. Paul, that's what Saul became after his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road. He never rejected the God of his fathers. He didn't throw away the scriptures, but he saw them with new eyes. He understood them in a new way. The old light wasn't extinguished. It was transformed, expanded, illuminated by a greater revelation.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul would later write about the mystery that had been hidden for ages, but was now revealed. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27. Can you imagine how shocking that would have been to someone raised with the idea that God was distant, untouchable, dwelling only in the holy of holies of the temple where only the high priest could go once a year. Christ in you, the divine presence, not just near you, not just with you, but actually dwelling within.
This new understanding transformed everything. And Paul spent the rest of his life trying to help others see it, too. He wrote, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here." 2 Corinthians 5:17. That old way of seeing yourself, the old identity based on performance and rulekeeping that said you were separated from God, all of it could be left behind for something infinitely better.
But here's the thing. Embracing the new often means letting go of old certainties. People may be afraid to veer from a set of religious paths and and principles out of fear of punishment or hesitant to explore other spiritual practices because they're worried about deception. These fears are real and they're often reinforced by well-meaning people who genuinely believe they're protecting us. I think of Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to Jesus at night in John chapter 3. He was drawn to what he saw in Jesus, but he came under cover of darkness, afraid of what his colleagues might think. Jesus told him, "You must be born again."
In other words, everything you think you know, all the religious credentials you've accumulated, all the traditional understanding you've built your life on, it's not enough. You need a complete transformation, a new way of seeing, a new birth. And Nicodemus struggled with this. "How can this be?" he asked. He was stuck in the old ways, trying to understand spiritual realities through physical categories. But Jesus was patient with him, gradually helping him see that God's spirit is like the wind.
It blows where it wishes, not confined by human traditions or expectations. And you know what's beautiful? Church tradition tells us that Nicodemus eventually stepped fully into the new way. He's the one who helped prepare Jesus' body for burial, coming out of the shadows to publicly identify with this radical teacher who challenged everything he'd been taught. The old way had told him to stay safe, stay hidden, stay within the approved boundaries. The new called him to step out in love, even at great personal cost. I wanted to take a second to tell you about my book which expands on what I'm talking about today.
The broken mirror of rediscovering our true nature in Christ will transform how you see yourself forever. Stop living as a struggling sinner trying to be good enough and discover you're already a beloved child of God with his divine nature flowing through you. This book will free you from shame, give you unshakable identity, and show you how to access God's peace, wisdom, and strength from within. The book shows how this story unfolds from Genesis to Revelation, and teaches you to live from rest, see others as fellow imagebearers, and step into your true calling as a radiant reflector of divine light. Your daily struggles will become opportunities for God's nature to shine through you. Get ready to live the abundant life Jesus promised. The link to the book is in the video description.
Hard copy, Kindle, and audiobook versions are all available. May God bless your journey along his path for you. So, where does this leave us today? How do we know if we're clinging to old ways that might be hindering our spiritual growth? Well, first ask some questions. Do you find yourself more concerned with being right than being loving? Are you more focused on defending doctrine than on experiencing transformation?
Do you feel like you're going through religious motions without encountering the living God? Are you afraid to ask questions, afraid to explore, afraid that if you look too closely, your faith might crumble? Many church situations teach a mixed message, and it may be hard to realize how stuck you are until you're away from the situation. The control might be subtle, telling you what to wear, how to spend your time, who you can associate with, what questions you're allowed to ask. All in the name of protecting you, of keeping you in the old ways that feel safe and familiar. But Jesus didn't come to make us safe. He came to make us free.
So if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36. Free from the burden of trying to earn God's love. Free from the fear that we're not good enough. Free from the boxes that limit our understanding of God's vastness. Free to explore, to question, to grow, to discover that God is so much bigger, so much more loving, so much more present than we ever dared to imagine.
Paul wrote to the Galatians who are being pulled back into old religious patterns. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1. The old way often comes with a yoke, a burden of performance, of never being quite good enough, of always striving but never arriving. The new comes with freedom, the freedom of knowing you're already loved, already accepted, already filled with divine presence. Some people stay in situations and circumstances that hinder their spiritual growth.
Like a tree planted in a pot, they may receive consistent water and fertilizer, but the container which once provided protection now chokes their growth. The pot was necessary for a while, but there comes a time when you need to be transplanted into the vast unlimited soil of God's expansive love. Let me share something that might shake up your traditional understanding even more. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." John 8:12. And we nod and say, "Yes, of course, Jesus is the light." But then he turns to his followers, ordinary, flawed, struggling people like us, and says, "You are the light of the world."
Matthew 5:14. Not you will be someday if you try hard enough. Not you should attempt to be, but you are. The old way might tell you that you're just a sinner saved by grace, forever graveling, forever unworthy. The new reveals that you're a beloved child of God, a temple of the Holy Spirit, a bearer of divine light. Paul put it this way. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19. The same presence that once dwelt in the Holy of Holies now dwells in you. That's not heresy. That's scripture. That's the new way that transforms everything.
But embracing this new understanding often means facing criticism from those still in the old structures. They might accuse you of pride, of thinking too highly of yourself, of departing from tradition. When we start to see ourselves and others as bearsers of divine light rather than as wretched sinners, it challenges entire religious systems built on control through shame. Think about the woman at the well in John chapter 4. Her tradition said she had to worship in a specific place, follow specific rules, maintain specific boundaries. But Jesus offered her a new perspective. The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
John 4:14. Not external religion, but internal transformation. Not going to a place to find God, but discovering that God was already within reach, ready to make his home within her. John 14:23.
And what did she do with this new understanding? She ran back to her village and shared it with everyone. The woman who had been hiding in shame, coming to the well at the hottest part of the day to avoid other people, suddenly became an evangelist. The new way didn't make her proud. It made her free. free to embrace your true identity, free to share the good news, free to invite others into the same transformation.
Spirituality serves as a key factor of resilience in later life, particularly when it involves relationships rooted in spirituality, spiritual coping, and openness to spiritual growth and transformation. It's not about clinging to old forms, but about being open to how the spirit might be moving in new ways. Peter had his own old light moment. He'd been raised with clear boundaries about what was clean and what was unclean, about who was in and who was out. But in Acts chapter 10, God gave him a vision that challenged everything. A sheet came down from heaven filled with unclean animals. And God said, "Get up, Peter.
Kill and eat." Peter protested. This went against everything he'd been taught. But God insisted, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." Shortly after, he was invited to the house of Cornelius, a gentile, someone the old system said he shouldn't even associate with. But Peter had learned to recognize when God was doing something new. He went, he shared the gospel, and the Holy Spirit fell on those Gentiles just as it had on the Jewish believers at Pentecost.
Peter's response, surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. Acts 10:47.
The old way had said God's people were one ethnic group following one set of customs. The new revealed that God's family included everyone who would receive it. The old way built walls. The new way tore him down. This is the pattern throughout scripture. Abraham was called to leave his father's house to step away from the old and follow God into the unknown. Moses met God in a burning bush.
The prophets consistently called people beyond empty rituals to genuine heart transformation. Jesus challenged the religious establishment not because they valued scripture, but because they turned it into a cage that kept people's spirit from flying. And this brings us back to you sitting here today, maybe feeling that tension between the old you've always known and a stirring in your spirit for something more. It's about learning, growing, and being positively transformed by adversity. It's about finding spiritual freedom and a sense of I am that arises from within, not from without. Maybe you've been taught that you need a priest or a pastor to mediate between you and God. But something in you knows that Christ has made you a priest yourself.
1 Peter 2:9. Maybe you've been told that God is angry and distant, but something in you senses his nearness and love. Maybe you've been operating under a system of rules and regulations, but something in you longs for the freedom of simply being God's beloved child. The invitation isn't to throw away everything you've ever learned. It's to hold it all up to the light, the true light, and see what remains. Truth will always stand. God's word is eternal.
But our interpretations, our traditions, our humanmade boxes, those might need to go. Paul said it beautifully. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reason like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:11.
There's nothing wrong with childhood. It's a necessary stage in life. But there comes a time to grow up, to move beyond milk to solid food, to graduate from the basics to the depths. The old way served its purpose. It brought you this far. It introduced you to God, gave you a foundation, provided structure when you needed it. But if it's now keeping you from deeper intimacy with God, if it's limiting your understanding of his love, if it's preventing you from embracing your true identity as his beloved child, then it might be time to step into something new.
This isn't about pride and it's not about rebellion. It's about growth. It's about allowing the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine to actually do that immeasurably more in your life. It's about discovering that the box you've been living in, no matter how beautifully decorated, is still a box and God is calling you into wide open spaces. Recent studies show that 70% of US adults describe themselves as spiritual in some way, with many saying they're connected with something bigger than themselves, connected with their true self, and open to finding beliefs that better connect with what they're feeling. People are hungry for authentic spiritual experience, not just religious routine.
So what does it look like to walk in new light while honoring the truth and the old? It looks like Jesus rooted in scripture but free from legalism, honoring the past but not enslaved to it, respecting tradition but prioritizing transformation. It looks like Paul, educated in the old ways, but enlightened by new revelation, able to speak to both Jews and Gentiles because he understood that God's light transcends all human categories.
And it looks like you perhaps standing at your own Damascus road, sensing that God might be bigger than you've been told, that his love might be more inclusive than you've believed, that your identity might be more glorious than you've dared to imagine. The scales are ready to fall from your eyes. The new light is ready to dawn. The only question is, will you step into it? Remember, God isn't asking you to follow a different God. He's inviting you to know him more fully. He's not telling you to abandon truth, but to embrace more of it.
He's not calling you away from faith, but deeper into it. The light isn't changing. Your capacity to perceive it is expanding. And here's the beautiful thing. You don't have to figure it all out at once. Just like Saul needed three days of darkness before he could see clearly, you might need time to adjust. Just like Nicodemus came at first at night before he could stand in the daylight, you might need to explore gradually.
Just like Peter needed a vision repeated three times before he could accept it, you might need God to be patient with your process, and he will be. But don't let fear keep you in the shadows. Don't let the comfort of the familiar prevent you from stepping into something greater. Don't let the voices of those still clinging to the old ways drown out the spirit's whisper calling you forward. The same spirit that fell on Saul on the Damascus road is available to you today. The same Jesus who transformed water into wine is ready to transform your understanding. The same God who has been progressively revealing himself throughout history isn't finished yet.
There's more light to see, more truth to discover, more freedom to experience. So maybe it's time to ask yourself, am I clinging to traditions that no longer serve their purpose? Am I defending a box that God himself is trying to break me out of? Am I so focused on being right that I'm missing the opportunity to be transformed? The road to Damascus is calling. The new light is dawning. The scales are ready to fall.
And on the other side of that transformation isn't heresy or danger or prideful selfdeception. On the other side is freedom. The glorious freedom of the children of God. Walking in the full light of truth, carrying that light within themselves, sharing it with a world that desperately needs to see. You were made for more. You were made to shine with the very presence of God. You were made to be a living temple, a bearer of divine light, a reflection of his glory.
That's not new age nonsense. That's biblical truth. Peter said, "We are partakers of divine nature in second Peter 1:4." That's the nature that's available to you right now. The only question is, will you live from it? Will you allow the old wine skins to burst so new wine can flow? Will you let the scales fall from your eyes?
Will you trust that the God who has brought you this far has so much more to show you? Let this be our prayer. Aba Father, we thank you that your light continues to shine, that your truth continues to unfold, that your spirit continues to lead us into truth. Give us courage to step beyond the familiar into the glorious unknown of your presence. Help us to hold tradition lightly while holding you tightly. Show us where we've made you smaller than you are. Where we've limited your love.
Where we've clung to old light instead of walking in the fullness of your radiance. Like Saul on the Damascus road, may we be willing to have our certainty shattered if it means seeing you more clearly. May we never value being right over being transformed. May we never choose comfortable tradition over life-giving truth. Fill us with your light that we might shine as lights in this world. Not with our own generated brightness, but with your very presence living in us and through us. We trust you to lead us from old light to new.
From partial understanding to everinccreasing revelation, from boxes that confine to the wide open spaces of your love. In Jesus name, who is himself the light of the world dwelling within us. Amen.
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