Remembering Religion but Forgetting God

I read a devotional this morning, written by Beth Taulman Miller and published in Disciplines 2013. She was writing about Psalm 50, and she said, "God emphasizes the tragedy of remembering religion and forgetting God."

...the tragedy of remembering religion and forgetting God.

Think about that for a while.  What would happen -- what happens -- when we remember our religion but we forget God?

I think it robs the grace from our faith.  When we remember religion, we remember the rules, the history, the law, but we forget the heart.  We forget the reason for it all.  We leave out the grace.  It's so much easier to have a religion that has no God, because then we become the god.  We make the judgments; we enforce the rules.  We decide who is welcome and who isn't -- who is worthy and who isn't.

Our worship becomes empty and without meaning.  We fail to love.  We fail to serve.

May we always remember God in our religion.