Posts Tagged "James"

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” – James 1:27 I learned something interesting about puffins the other day. You know, puffins.  Cute little birds with faces like French mimes.  Apparently, puffins have a gland near the base of their tail that produces a special oil that they coat their feathers with.  This oil helps their feathers stay waterproof and it actually helps them float. Without the oil, the water will soak in and they will simply sink. Also the other day, I read a beautiful prayer, a prayer of Jesus. In the Gospel of John, chapter 17, Jesus prays to His Father, and in the middle of it, He says these words, “I...

James has been called the most practical book in the Bible, and indeed, it is full of great specifics about how to properly live out this relationship we have with God. If worship is a lifestyle, then James is a how-to-guide for the type of lifestyle God desires for us. In this context, look at what he says "pure" religion is: "...to visit orphans and widows in their affliction..." Now, there are a couple of ways to look at this...

We were created to worship God in the joy of a relationship with Him, but when "religion" becomes just a set of rules that we follow dogmatically in fear, then we aren't really worshiping God the way He desires, are we? In fact, one could argue that we're more likely worshiping the rules, rather than the One who gave them to us...