Bible Study Pure Religion And Undefiled Before God And The Father Is This

[WalterandDebbie]

Tuesday 2-14-23 1st. Day Of The Weekly Cycle Shevat 22, 5783 56th. Winter Day

James 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Love, Walter and Debbie

 

[gralanlinae]

That passage, in context, has been a source of comfort and conviction for me. I'm convinced we are to reach out to help the disenfranchised, the needy, the abandoned, the helpless. The keeping oneself unspotted by the world however, I've wrestled with. I have been influenced by my culture/society, even in terms of what I think of as music, dress, politics, education, employment... I seek not to be unseemly spotted, but there are attitudes and characteristics I must get over which are not of the Kingdom.

By that I don't mean acceptable to a congregation, or a particular denomination. It is easy to see in others, when in full bloom, but even Jesus addressed the issue of seeing problems in others while missing one's own.

Attitudes about individualism, about money, about acceptable social behavior, about all sorts of things are that which can soil our garments, so to speak.

For example, I am an evangelical in the faith. I know and believe "the evangel" (the good news, the Gospel of Jesus). But I am not a follower in the Evangelical Movement, which split from the Fundamentalism due to finding nothing wrong with worldly education, or accumulating worldly wealth.

I also am conservative in the faith. I do not believe the faith has changed since it was "once for all time delivered unto the saints" Jude3
However that does not mean I am what the world calls Conservative, since I am to love my neighbor as myself, to devote myself to serving others, and so much more liberal things.

What the world standard is for Conservative and Liberal does not compare to Christianity. But unfortunately many in the churches seem to think it does. In fact, much of what the world considers Conservative has changed into Neo-Liberal, which is not at all interested in slow-to-no changes, limited constraints, sticking to original values, and so much more.

Let us examine ourselves to see if we remain in the faith. This is the instruction from God. When I fail to do so, I get arrogant, I get an attitude, and other ungodly characteristics and actions. No, I don't go out hardcore sinning, as my grandparents would have said. But any sin, even the inconspicuous ones, are hardcore sins in my book.

Looking good on the outside, but dirty on the inside, was criticized by Jesus. Jesus is supposed to be my life, my master, my King. Let us rejoice and be glad in him. I'm sure you will.