We saw yesterday that those who are wise are not looking around to see what everyone else is doing wrong, they are looking in the mirror to see what they are failing to do, and then turn away to change. In the last section of chapter 1, James says:
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 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.
So, what does a really religious person, a person who really believes in God, look like? Three glaring characteristics: Control over one's tongue, concern for the helpless, and a commitment to personal purity. When we look into God's word, like we are doing here, we are looking for a takeaway: we want to be able to go out there into our day and say something helpful to others, not something that just tears them down. It means we want to read to get God's heart, His perspective, and that will move us to want to meet needs with compassion. It means we read to understand God's will, the way things function, the way He intends, and then go out and do not do things the way He never intended us to. We use our minds, bodies and souls properly. Which one, or ones, of those do you need to work on today?
No comments:
Post a Comment