Remain Unstained

"If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 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 1:26-27

Do you consider yourself religious? Would you count yourself as someone who lives for God? As we conclude the first chapter of James, he is going to cover what it means to be a true follower of Christ, as opposed to someone who merely thinks they are religious.

Whether you agree with the "Why I hate religion but love Jesus" youtube video by Jefferson Bethke (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY), he makes some valid points in it. Though I don't fully agree that Jesus came to abolish religion, I do agree that a person does not reach Jesus through religion alone. As James starts out, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless." It is possible for a person's religion to be worthless, but not in all situations. Only one religion is worthwhile, we will talk about that in a moment.

The first statement in James that catches my attention is his choosing of "bridling of the tongue." James doesn't say a murderer's religion is worthless, or a liars, or a thief's, or an adulterers. Why does he choose to emphasize the bridling of the tongue? Remember friends, James isn't talking about the person who is clearly not a Christian, or the person who is a proclaimed atheist, but the person who thinks they are saved and isn't. James isn't talking about the murderers and thief's who are blatantly not following God's laws and probably don't even claim faith in Christ, he is talking about the person who claims faith in Christ but fails to bridle their tongue. He is talking about the person whose mouth speaks curses one moments, and the next, claims salvation through Christ. That is why he mentions bridling the tongue: because it is the most common sin that a Christian becomes calloused to. By the grace of God, we must become sensitive to filthy speech, for speech acceptable to the world should not be uttered unless it is also acceptable to God. Too many Christians forget the magnitude and importance of bridling their tongue for the sake of representing Christ accurately. There is a question that must be answered now. We know what false religion looks like James, we get that, but what does true religion look like? Will you leave us with merely a definition of false religion and none of true religion? James doesn't let us down, let's look ahead.

"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." First thoughts? James is being awfully specific. I thought people had different callings. What about teaching, prophecy, and discipleship? Did James insert his own biases into this passage? Do not be confused friend. The emphasis of this passage is not on the action of visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, but on the idea of being unstained by the world. Visiting orphans and widows isn't essential for salvation (though it is good), rather it is an illustration of the latter point James is making: keeping oneself unstained from the world. If I say, "get some coffee and stay awake," are there not other ways by which to gain energy? Of course there are. In the same way, James is merely suggesting one example that would aid in the pursuit of remaining unstained and unaffected by the worlds prejudices. James is trying to get the point across to the believer that, along with bridling our tongue, we need to be unstained by this world.

Do you have biases towards the homeless, the broken, the lowly in spirit, the blind, the deaf, or the weak? All unjust prejudices, biases, and judgements are the effect of a world-stained heart. The world-stained heart does not subject itself to God's law or to God's love, but rather basis its judgements upon the foundation this world has created and idolized. Friends, let your speech be unstained; your prejudices, unstained; your love, unstained; your heart, unstained. The stained person is after the world's heart, the unstained person is after God's heart. God doesn't stain our hearts, he cleanses it from the stain that the world has put there. Be a people unstained by the world and after God's own heart; a life of such cleanliness and love will be in direct contact with the will of God and what greater joy is there than that? None to be fathomed.