“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27
Today’s Christian Daily Devotional
Think about it: What good does it do any of us to go to church, listen to a message, throw a twenty in the offering plate (that we will never miss), and go on with our lives the rest of the week totally unchanged? The cycle continues again the next week, and the next week, and the next… Is this REALLY the life of a Christian? Should it be? Ask yourself if your religion has gotten stale. If it has, it may be because of YOU. Jesus himself defined religion in this verse. It is not going to church every week, or singing certain songs, or saying prayers that you don’t mean from the heart. It is to visit kids who have no father figures, to support a person who just lost their husband (in hugs, money or just being a shoulder to cry on), it is remaining unaffected by the corrupted world around you because you choose to do things God’s way, not the popular way. I think if you ponder and pray about that verse it will bring a new meaning to a stale word like religion. We must open our hearts to have true religion. It has never been a bunch of man-made rules. According to God, true religion really does come from the heart.
“Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this verse. It speak such volumes to how we as humans tend to corrupt even the good things you gave us…sometimes with the best intentions! Lord, light our eyes to see how we can have the religion that you are talking about in James 1:27. We want the pure, uncorrupted kind that you envisioned. Show us how we can do this right. I am tired of churches and religions making you look bad. You don’t endorse their behavior, yet they bring the name of Jesus down and it turns the world away from you. I pray for true religion to grow like a weed in every believers heart to choke out the false kind that is corrupting your children and turning away the masses that NEED you. Lord, in Jesus name, stop the corruption in all the houses that claim your name, Amen.”