The End of Religion

I am re-reading a book by the pastor of a church in Canada - Bruxy Cavey. The premise of the book is that Jesus came to end religion (not church he started THE Church). Anyway he starts by defining religion:

""any reliance on systems or institutions, rules or rituals as our conduit to God." The "religion" I'm talking about in this book is any system of rules or regulations, rituals, and routines that people use to achieve their spiritual end-goal...I don't believe that any one system or institution is the way to connect with God, although these things may be able to play a supportive role in our journey."

"The Jesus described in the Bible sees the things people normally associate with religion, like prayer and pilgrimage, baptism and Bible study, church attendance and charitable giving, as possible expressions of the spiritual life God gives, but not the means to obtain it. Do I kiss my wife to earn her love? Or do I kiss her to express the love that we already share? One represents the insecurity of religion. The other shows the intimacy of faith."

He goes on to talk about where Paul writes about our salvation being a free gift so that no one would boast. When I was in high school and college I remember people telling me or asking me if I was religious and I was always quick to deny it and say no but I have a relationship with Jesus. At time looking back I'm not sure if I was relying on Jesus or if I was proud of how "disciplined" I was with the rituals I thought were important for Christians to do. You know church attendance, morning QT everyday, etc. Now I feel like I am transitioning from religion to relationship. I feel as though I am motivated to be in God's Word or prayer or giving etc out of my love relationship with him rather than because I "should". I also think that religion is either human nature or it is Satan's way of taking a good thing daily bible time, prayer etc and turning them into meaningless rituals or it is both. I know that we like to get into routines but I didn't see Jesus doing a lot of routine things. He did what the Father asked him to do when it was time. Feed 5000, share a meal with one, heal this person, teach children there was no formula. I am not sure when I began to slide down the slippery slope of religion, but this book has been good to open my eyes to me. This journey is amazing, it is an opportunity and I have enjoyed getting back to relationship.