You can be in church every week and still be in bondage.
Not bondage to sin in the obvious way, but bondage to performance. To rituals. To the quiet belief that if you do enough religious things, God will leave you alone about the one thing you’re protecting: your heart.
That’s the trap. Religion can become a hiding place. A way to stay “close” to God while keeping control.
Rituals were never meant to replace the heart. At their best, they’re symbols, outward signs of an inward reality. But when the heart is unchanged, ritual turns into a mask. You can sing, serve, tithe, fast, pray, and still be untouched. Still unrepentant. Still unhealed. Still the same person, just better dressed.
That’s why people bargain with God.
“I’ll give you some of my money.” “I’ll give you my time.” “I’ll show up.” “I’ll do the right things.”
But the heart? That feels expensive. Because the heart is where the real idols live. The real wounds. The real pride. The real fear. The secret stories we don’t want exposed.
And God’s response is not complicated: “That’s all I want.”
That’s why David matters so much in Scripture. Not because David was clean, but because he wasn’t. He fell hard: he took Bathsheba and arranged the death of Uriah. If anyone had a reason to hide behind religion, it was him. He could have tried to smooth things over with sacrifices and ceremonies. He could have done what religious people do when they get caught: perform harder.
But David says something that destroys the whole performance game:
“Sacrifice you do not desire… but a broken and contrite heart.”
In other words: God isn’t impressed by what I can offer while my heart stays the same. God isn’t bribed by spiritual activity. God wants truth. He wants surrender. He wants the part of you you keep locking away.
This is also one of the clearest differences between the God of Israel and pagan religion. Pagan systems tend to bring “god” down to a manageable level. If you can manipulate god with the right ritual, you can control outcomes. If you can control outcomes, you can control people. And if you can control people, you can control the world.
But Yahweh is not part of the system. He is holy. You can play with the world all you want and still not change Him. God may respond, God may relent, but His character isn’t negotiable. You can’t trick Him, buy Him, or pressure Him.
That’s why this is bigger than Solomon’s Temple. Solomon’s Temple was glorious, and it still fell. Anything built by human hands can collapse. But Christ’s Temple isn’t a building. It’s not man-made. It has no walls to hide behind. It’s built in the hearts of people, which means the whole point is transformation, not appearance.
Religion cannot save you. It can only manage you.
God didn’t send a checklist for you to climb up to Him. He sent His Word to come down to you. And that Word becomes our ark, like in Noah’s day, not because it looks impressive, but because it holds.
If you’re relying on religion, you might be standing near the ark, touching the wood, admiring the shape, but still outside.
Christ is offering more than rituals.
He’s offering a new heart.