I just got through reading another brothers blog. He was hitting on some real hard issues. Then this scripture came to my mind.
"If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but decieves his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:26-27
I feel we are to quick to say hey I gave my tithe or I showed up at church every Sunday this last year. Or I give at the office. Using this as an excuse to not go out and help others on your own. We pay someone whether through tithes, United Way etc. to do the work for us and then in turn want to get a pat on the back for being "religious". Well, according to the word that persons religion is "useless". And most of these people don't bridle their tongue while all along decieving their own heart. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only. It is not up to one person or a certain group to do all of the labor. No, the Lord has something for us all to do.
When we do go out to help we are not to do what the world is doing by drawing attention to ourselves. If the body of Christ were doing as commanded in the scripture then we would have no need of the government to help. Think about that, all the money spent on our own pleasures could be used to help the orphans, widows and the poor. And the gospel could really be preached to all the world.
1 comment:
Amen.... I've discovered that it's more challenging, (and more rewarding), to give 20 bucks to someone face to face, than to write a $100 check to an organization. I've learned that the main thing isn't always the amount of money being raised, but the personal connection that happens when one person just unexpectedly helps out someone else when they need it. All too often we "outsource" the joy of learning to recognize and intervene into those situations of need that are around us everyday. It's been a little strange to realize that "helping orphans, widows and the poor" often doesn't feel like "charitable giving", it just feels very normal, like something you would do for one of your own children. Putting names and faces to the people we give to helps prevent us from parading our 'acts of righteousness' before men, because there's no receipt in the mail, there's no photo to tack onto your fridge, and there's a real person, who knows you, who might find out if you were to go around talking about how you gave them money or food, etc. I think we'd all benefit from learning to practice our 'religion' without the middlemen and facilitators that we often think are so essential...
Daniel
Post a Comment