WIDOWS, ORPHANS, AND YOU
James 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.
One of the most quoted Bible verses I’ve ever heard regarding serving God is about helping widows and orphans, but there is a vital message in this verse that should not be overlooked. God wants our service to be accompanied by purity. PURE. UNDEFILED. UNSPOTTED. I believe God is using three words to say three things about purity.
1. PURE religion isn’t about religious man-made traditions and our outward appearances; it is about loving and serving Him as we go out into this world and love and serve others.
2. He wants us UNDEFILED before Him in that our hearts and lives are to be full of love and obedience to Him and His Word.
3. When we go out into the world to serve, He wants us to keep our hearts and lives pure by guarding ourselves against being influenced by the evil and wickedness all around us.
Helping others while one’s heart is full of hatred toward one’s husband, caring for one’s neighbors while using pornography when one’s family goes to sleep at night, doing “good deeds” to feel good about oneself rather than to bring glory to God, pridefully judging the people one is helping, trying to “earn” God’s favor through service, picking up the bad habits of those one is helping are all examples of NOT being pure, undefiled, and unspotted before the Lord. Is it time to repent of any sins and to turn to the Lord? Love and serve Him with a pure heart and life!