Episode 318

TODAY’S READING:

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.

James 1:27

 

Orphans and widows. A lot of the text we read has to be read in the times they were written. In this time, women were dependent on their husbands, and to be a widow would have been to be left helpless. This isn’t to say that a widow in the modern day is not equally as devastating. Still, we as a society have made great improvements on what women can achieve, and most widows in the modern-day aren’t necessarily left helpless as there are strong communities and families that help when something like this happens.

 

I think we can apply this text in the modern-day – as the Bible was made to be everlasting. It can be read and applied to any era.

 

But what we must realize is what is the pure and faultless “religion” referred to in this text. There are two. The first instruction is to look after those who need help in their distress. We are to provide for those who need providing. Today we can find people who need help everywhere. We find orphans and widows, but we also find these people in the foster systems, in homes with abusive or addicted parents, we find them in those with disabilities, and in centers where extra assistance is needed.

 

The second instruction was to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. This is hard in today’s climate. One session on IG and you can become instantly enraged or overcome with negative emotion. You could read the news and think awful things. You could fight your neighbors and even family members on differences of opinion. Beyond that, you could get in with a group of friends that moves you further away from your creator and closer to man-created idols. That is all a result of being polluted by the world.

 

Our prayer today should be for Jesus to bring us to people we can help and impact but also keep ourselves pure from pollution. Hold on to the fruit of the spirit. Hold on to the promise of God. 

 

PRAYER

Jesus, we want to be in right standing with you. We want to care for those that need to be provided for, and we want to stay pure from pollution. Lord, check our hearts today. Where can we improve? Where can we grow deeper and closer in relationship to you? Point us in that direction. It is with everything in us that we pray, AMEN!