Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27 (NASB)
I talked about the first part of this passage a couple of postings ago. Now I want to come back to the last part of the verse, keeping oneself pure or unstained by the world. As I read this my thoughts keeping drifting back to Matthew 22 and the passage where Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment, he replies love God and love your neighbor. The first part of this passage is about loving your neighbor and the second part seems to fit "loving God." You see if we love God with all we have, we won't have time for things of the world. I know, this is easier said than done. Then again, who ever said being a Christ-follower is easy? James is writing about trials in the first section of chapter 1. This entire letter is written to the twelve tribes who have been scattered due to persecution.
So how do you stay unstained? Do we do it by loving God (Mat 22), focusing on God (Col 3), serving others John 13). I would answer yes to all of these. We also need to align our belief and values with what the Bible teaches. We need to live out a Biblically informed faith.
Here is a challenge that I was given and that I pass along to you. Take a passage of scripture, the Beatitudes, this passage in James, Col 3 or Matthew 22 and live them out. Ask yourself what would my life look like serving widows and orphans, setting my heart on things above, loving God with every fiber of my being? Then apply what you have learned for a week and see how God can use you and transform you into His likeness.
1 comment:
Well said.
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