• There are people that are married but have no heartfelt relationship with their spouses.
• There are people that feel very much in love with each other but they refuse to commit to marriage.
• There are people that are very much in love with each other and demonstrate it through their marital commitment and behaviors.

Similarly:

• There are people that follow Christ’s religion without having a heartfelt relationship with him.
• There are people that feel love for Christ but refuse to commit to the religion he established.
• There are people that love Jesus and demonstrate it through their religious commitment and behaviors.

So:

Don’t let anyone convince you that, in order to be Christian, one must choose between “religion” or “relationship.” On the contrary, the key is in uniting with Christ through the very religion he established.

It’s not about “religion or relationship.” It’s about “relationship through religion;” the religion Jesus established, that is. There’s little point in pursuing a religion established by anyone else if a relationship with Christ is your conscious goal. And there’s little point in belonging to his religion if you have no interest in a relationship with him.

Both marriage and Christ’s religion come with tangible boundaries, behaviors and expectations for the good of the relationship. Stepping outside of those boundaries places the relationship at risk. It is fitting, therefore, that scripture compares the relationship between Christ and his Church to marriage. And, it makes perfect sense that the forces of evil would seek to undermine both marriage and the Church established by Christ.