I got shot by a shotgun right between the eyes today! Well not really, but figuratively. This was in Sunday school at church. We were reading and studying from the book of James. Here is the text for your convenience.
Listening and Doing James 1:19-27 19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his 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.
The first thing that hit me was verse 21: “get rid of all moral filth…” It is so prevalent in our lives and yes my life that sometimes we do not see it. We just get used to it. Well, stop that. Cast it out and get ride of it. The consequences are disastrous. The results of doing it are great blessings most notably in peace.
The second thing that he was from verse 22: Don’t just listen, but obey. If you just hear it and do nothing you are deceiving yourself. WOW. I use this verse on my kids all the time as an exhortation to listen and obey their parents, i.e. Me. But, it is relevant in my life as well. I know what is true and right. Some of my favorite sins just are too much fun. Lord, I need your redeeming power to overcome the power of my sin!!! Help me Lord!!!
Third, verse 26, the tongue: Do you have perfect control over your tongue? Do you have any control over your tongue? Man when I get just a little bit tired I am a wreck and I will say anything. Are you convicted enough yet? The problem is the tough on is yet to come.
Forth, verse 27, what is true religion, “to look after orphans and widows in their distress”. I hate to tell you, this is not a new mandate for a new welfare program; this is a command go get involved in the lives of the widows and orphans. This is command to get dirty with some people that we find very distasteful. There is so few that claim to be Christian that actually do this. We have a few that are missionaries that are supposed to do this, then there are most of us that send off our check to the aid agency so that we can attempt clear our guilty conscious of what we know to be good and true and right.
I believe so strongly that the growth in the welfare movement in the early 60’s was significantly because the Church in America (meaning all of us in the Church) reneged on our responsibility to care for the poor. And now we have a government programs that are trying to fill that need. Without the redeeming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ these social programs cannot create the transformed lives that individual Christians and well run Christian social programs can affect in peoples lives.
We need to get back to James 27: “look after orphans and widows in their distress”.
