I was listening to my friend Greg lead a Bible study here at New Calvary Baptist Church. One of the scriptures he had us look at was James 1:27. This is what we saw there:
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
Then Greg went on to another passage of scripture. But I stayed there and focused on the James passage. I looked closely at it, and this popped up in my mind while reflecting on it: God wants us to be people who are compassionate and clean.
Let's consider this for a moment...
[1] God wants us to be compassionate:
We are to "look after orphans and widows in their distress." That's two groups of people who need attention, care, and help. And the truth is, there are additional people out there who desperately need us to get involved with their lives and minister to them.
Let's help people who can not help themselves. We can feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, befriend the lonely, encourage the defeated, comfort the dying, and evangelize the lost. As opportunities present themselves to us, let's care about hurting people and be a blessing to them.
[2] God wants us to be clean:
We are to keep ourselves "from being polluted by the world." There is more than enough immorality in this world. You and I do not have to look far to see the filth that is all around us.
God calls us to keep ourselves morally clean in a world that is polluted by evil and darkness. Yes, we are to live in this world and make a difference in it. But we as Christians are not to become like the world and join in it's immorality. If we are followers of Jesus, we are to be more like Him and less like the world.
What kind of religion does God consider "pure and faultless"? Religion that is compassionate towards the hurting and clean in the midst of immorality. That, in a nutshell, is what God wants. And with His help from above, we all can grow in both of these areas.
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