May 2 Pure Religion

May 2

Pure Religion

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

He smoked cigars, chawed tobacco, drank whiskey, told dirty stories and cussed with the best of them. He also claimed the faith of his grandfather, an old time Baptist preacher. Eventually his wife left him about the same time he and his female secretary were terminated from their positions. 

Oh dear, I had wanted to give you an example of someone who had been spotted by the world, but I now realize I gave you an example of a guy who just dove head first into the manure pile of sin.

Our meditation for today is to think about what we as Christians should be doing. Most of us think in terms of “don’ts”. Don’t get drunk, don’t cuss like a drunken sailor, don’t … don’t… don’t.

To be fair we also have a list of do’s. Do go to church. Do read the Bible. Be nice to people. Say our prayers.  Say grace before we eat. Yep, that pretty well covers it.

The Christianity practiced by a vast majority of people in America has become pretty comfortable. In addition the super spiritual may even go to a men or woman’s retreat, attend an all-night gospel sing, or leave tracts in gas station bathrooms. But is that the Bible description of pure religion, active faith, and God pleasing conduct?

Today I want us to look at two aspects of pure religion as James talks about it.

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.  

The opening words of this verse start with a premise that pure religion, that which starts out as white as snow, and has not become defiled, soiled, or dirtied, consists of helping those in need. The verse identifies widows and orphans. Those who no longer have a husband, and those who no longer have either mother or father. In the times in which James wrote, there were no government subsidies, no welfare check, no food stamps, no free medical, the only food pantry was what could be gleaned from a field.

We often hesitate to help people who for all we know are “working” the system. I once worked with an organization who put everything in a box that a family would need to fix a turkey dinner for thanksgiving. One of the men who delivered them to needy families said he asked a lady where she wanted him to put the box, and she said just line it up with the other boxes she had received. He said the family had several boxes of gifts and food. They definitely were not “afflicted”. 

But that does not allow us to ignore what James is teaching. In his day widows and orphans were the most afflicted. Today we may know widows and needy children who could use both caring visits and help with whatever their affliction is. The word “visit” in the text is way more than a 5 minute chat. Just throwing money in a jar for some needy cause on a store counter is not what this verse is requiring.

The second requirement of Pure religion is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.  The idea here is that of not allowing the ungodly world culture from getting a toe hold on us. Not a spot of it. The first psalm has the progression of sin in our lives.

Ps 1:1 ¶ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  

If you listen to and follow the advice of the ungodly, they will eventually include you in their circle of friends who stand around and talk together, which will lead to sitting down with them and becoming scornful, and disrespecting the same things they do.

So the verse says we must follow the advice of the Bedouin desert dweller who saw the nose of his camel coming into the tent and hit the camel’s nose with a tent stake. He explained “If you do not keep the camel’s nose out of your tent soon the whole camel will be inside your tent!”  We need to become more sensitive to those “spots” of the world that bombard us daily.

For today may we consider what pure religion is. What exactly should we be doing to conform to what God has instructed in this verse in James?  Who do we know who are really afflicted? How can we help?  

Finally let us consider to what degree the world culture has spotted our faith. To what degree have we been conformed to this world (Rom 12:1) How has our pleasure driven, entertainment society impacted both our churches and our own minds. We cannot keep ourselves unspotted from the world if we do not know the source of the spots on our spiritual well-being and our outward testimony.

May God richly bless you as you think about our devotional focus for today.

Pr 10:6 ¶ Blessings are upon the head of the just: