Skip to main content

Pure Religion

I've struggled with the term "religion" for a long time because it has come to carry a connotation for me of something orchestrated, institutional - a perfunctory exercise. My preference instead has been to highlight my belief that what our God desires from us is instead "relationship". Then I ran across this and I had to pause...

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:27 (NLT)

"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." James 1:27 (KJ)

It doesn't matter the translation, it appears the same. And in it I denote a familiar spirit. I recognize it from scripture after scripture dealing with the care of, and justice for, the widows and the fatherless...

"Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name Yah, And rejoice before Him. A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land." Psalm 68:4-6 (NKJ)

... It's the heart of the one true God, The Father of all fathers, tender for the disadvantaged and downtrodden among the spirits that He gave life to. His own heart jealous for them as He watches, looking for kindred spirits - hearts after His own, to care for who and what, He Himself loves. His gaze, watching and waiting to see who will pass the test of kinship to His own heart - those who bear the mark of "pure religion".

The test is for us. It's a test to try the religion of those who claim to bear His name. I believe that the reward that He seeks in His search, is to find a heart that reflects the very image of His own.


"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it."  Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This "Christ"mas...

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:8-14 (NKJ) As "Christ"mas approaches it usually finds me refreshing my knowledge and understanding of what I believe that it is that we as "Christ"ians should be celebrating in our observation of the event of Christ's birth. I do this in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

If I Worry At All...

For the last year I've been engaged in a writing project that requires me to answer a series of questions posed over the fifty two weeks of the year. My answer to the last question that I chose to answer is one that I decided to share because it's always on my heart and mind... What do you worry about? I know that worrying itself changes nothing but there are some things that cause me deep worry. And of those particular things, there are none that I have the power to change on my own, but they are instead those that I have to appeal to Christ’s mercy to intercede. I have deep worry for the souls of all of my loved ones because I know that despite all that we might find concern for in our passing through of this world, there’s only one account that will, for all time, require an answer from all of us. That response, having already been made while we journeyed here, will leave us without further opportunity to answer. Our choice, made in this current life, will leave us either pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Observance And Observing True Reality...

As Easter approaches, I begin once again considering how our God sees our observance of an occasion as I always do and also what He might truly desire of us in observance above any of our trivial, man inspired traditions . What I come away with in firm conviction is the understanding that the most trivial of my sins, the least of my crimes against God, had the power to forever damn me in His judgment of me and send me into unending torment. And that knowing this one thing in truth and as reality, is key to my correct posture before God in honor of His purpose in the event. That key being the horror of knowing that the price of my very least sin was the shedding of my Christ Jesus' blood and His horrible suffering, because the reality of this brings the deep rending of my heart in awe and gratitude and it makes possible my true joy at the relief of my sentence because of what He has done. I believe this is a part of what God would desire from us in observance of Christ's death a...
Post a Comment
Read more