Core Scriptures for Relationship Over Religion

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
— 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
🗣️ You don't need a collar or a choir robe—God wants your heart, not your performance.

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
— 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV)
🗣️ You are the church. Period. Wherever you go, God’s presence goes with you.
 

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
— Matthew 15:8 (NIV)
🗣️ It’s not about talking holy. It’s about walking in love.
 

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
— Luke 5:31-32 (NIV)
🗣️ Your flaws don’t disqualify you—they’re the reason Jesus came.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
— John 13:35 (NIV)
🗣️ It’s not your title that shows you're His—it’s your love.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
— Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
🗣️ You don’t have to earn it. You just have to receive it.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
— Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
🗣️ You don’t have to have it all together—God meets you right where you are.

“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 (NIV)
🗣️ Religion will trap you. Relationship with Christ will free you.

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called... God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:26-27 (NIV)
🗣️ You don’t need a platform—just a yes. God does the rest.

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.”
— Ephesians 2:19 (NIV)
🗣️ No matter your past, your background, or your baggage—you are family here.