You could live for years in church and never hear this preached.
You could go for years and years and never know what a pure and
undefiled religion really is before God. You could even read the
scripture verse we use here and still not understand what it means. If
you want to know what God wants from you this is for you.
So what is a pure Christian life?
James puts it this way:
James 1:27 (New King James Version)
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Do you know that single mothers would be considered widows these days? Do you know that there are many hundreds of single mothers that suffer from a lack of money to buy good things for their children in your community. There are probably a few single mothers in your church. James says taking those mothers out shopping and buying them a few things for their children, things the mother cannot afford, makes you a great Christian in the eyes of God.
In the West up to 40% of children from divorced homes or broken relationships do not see their father. You don't have to go to Africa to see orphans, so many children in our society do not have a good stable father figure in their life and so many of the mothers could do with a couple befriending them. There is so much good a mature well established husband and wife could do in a single mothers life.
James says that to visit them is the right sort of religion.
James goes on to say that we are to keep ourselves from being spotted by the world. If you do not know what that means you are in good company. I didn't know for years. It means we are not to be lusting and chasing after the things of the world. James gives the idea that the world with all its lusts makes us dirty and we need to be cleaned up.
Are you a person that has to have all the latest gadgets and things that come onto the market? Are you a person with all the brand name clothes, the best cars, a nice house, and all manner of things? All these things James is talking about. We need to have things with the right attitude. We have to serve God more and serve things less.
So what is a pure Christian life?
James puts it this way:
James 1:27 (New King James Version)
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Do you know that single mothers would be considered widows these days? Do you know that there are many hundreds of single mothers that suffer from a lack of money to buy good things for their children in your community. There are probably a few single mothers in your church. James says taking those mothers out shopping and buying them a few things for their children, things the mother cannot afford, makes you a great Christian in the eyes of God.
In the West up to 40% of children from divorced homes or broken relationships do not see their father. You don't have to go to Africa to see orphans, so many children in our society do not have a good stable father figure in their life and so many of the mothers could do with a couple befriending them. There is so much good a mature well established husband and wife could do in a single mothers life.
James says that to visit them is the right sort of religion.
James goes on to say that we are to keep ourselves from being spotted by the world. If you do not know what that means you are in good company. I didn't know for years. It means we are not to be lusting and chasing after the things of the world. James gives the idea that the world with all its lusts makes us dirty and we need to be cleaned up.
Are you a person that has to have all the latest gadgets and things that come onto the market? Are you a person with all the brand name clothes, the best cars, a nice house, and all manner of things? All these things James is talking about. We need to have things with the right attitude. We have to serve God more and serve things less.
No comments:
Post a Comment