Are you religious?

Last week at my Bible Study, our group had an interesting conversation about being called "religious". We talked about how using that word to a Christian is sort of a big ol' flag that tells you the other person was not brought up in the church. We also spoke briefly about when people say, "I'm spiritual". I would love to start asking people who tell me that what it means to them to be "spiritual". These words have such a negative connotation within the church, as though the person asking if one is religious is really asking, "are you a pharisee? are you a hypocrite?" (which they most likely aren't)

As I've spent the last week thinking about that conversation, I've come to realize I am religious. There are parts of the daily practice of my faith that really don't have much to do with relationship with God. For instance, frequently, when we have finished our prayer before dinner I think was God really glorified by that? What if we had just said, "rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub... yay GOD!"

I guess it really comes back to the meaning of the original question. “Are you religious?” Coming from someone who is fairly new to the faith, or not a part of it, who doesn’t know that our hackles rise just because they use the wrong word, how would I answer? Ultimately, I want to be able to be confident of my answer, whatever it is. And maybe, the connotation really doesn’t matter at all. Yes, I am. I love Jesus. I try to honor him in my actions. I’m a work in progress, but he loves me.