26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt (James 1:26-27)
We’ve been touring the book of James and just wrapped up chapter one. Wow…the guy doesn’t let up! This past Sunday we thought about evidences of real, genuine faith. If we are walking the talk what should it look like? Everyone graded themselves (in the privacy of their own mind!)
Take a moment and give yourself a grade on each of these (you can give smiley faces/ F thru A/ 1-10…whatever works for you…just take a look in the mirror!)
Mirror #1: Your tongue! Pure and simple question, “does what comes out of you mouth sound like Jesus?”
Mirror #2: Your compassion. “Does your compassion move you into action for those who are displaced and misplaced?”
Mirror #3: Your secret life. As James puts it has the world, “corrupted you”? In other words “is there something corroding your faith from the inside out?”
If your answers distress you refer quickly to James 1:25. A long look into the Perfect Law can liberate you by setting back on the path of life. James doesn’t expect us to be perfect…just brutally honest in our pursuit of Jesus.
