UNSPOTTED

UNSPOTTED!

James 1:27

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.

           Being a Christian in this current moral and political climate is challenging. It doesn’t seem to take much effort to rise above the general muck around us which means that we seldom rise to the heights we should. The “dumbing down” of religion has made casual Christians appear to be glow-in-the-dark saints. The only thing that seems to set us apart is our T-shirts.

           James boils it all down for us when he focuses on what is clean and unsoiled before God. Never mind what others think! What does God think about my particular brand of Christianity? The key elements seem to be a practical application of goodness. The word “visit” simply means “to go see and to relieve” widows in their affliction. This gets God’s attention.

           The second element requires herculean effort! We are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. This is as challenging as a white bunny in a mud wrestling arena! By “the world” James means “society without God.” But how does an average believer keep himself clean?

           There must be a steady relationship to God’s Word. Ps 119:9 “Wherewithal (or how) shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. In the front flyleaf of my Bible is scrawled these words: “This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.”

           There must also be an intentional association with God’s people at church. The reason that racial and ethnic integration fails is that similar people prefer to be together. To put it another way, “Birds of a feather flock together.” That’s why larger cities have a “China Town” or a “Little Italy.” Christians have churches!

1 Cor 15:33

33 Be not deceived: evil communications (companions) corrupt good manners (morals).

           Without practical benevolence and personal moral purity, a professing believer has no well-founded evidence that he is a Christian.

Dear Lord, fill my heart with your compassion and let me act upon it. Help me to keep myself clean in an impure world. AMEN