Read with Me
James 1:26-27 (HCSB)
If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Listen with Me
James was a bit of a pragmatist. For him, a religion that didn’t fundamentally change how a person operated was a sham and worse than worthless. It was in fact a dangerous deception that could convince someone that they were fine while they were very much lost and on the path to hell.
One of the key indicators of a bad heart is a sharp tongue, or a tongue which spews forth gossip or surmises that damage the name and reputation of a brother or sister. Jesus himself spoke about these in Luke 6:43-45: “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.”
What comes out of a person’s mouth in their unguarded moments is a very good indicator of what is in their hearts. And James’ point is that if a person’s words betray a bad heart, then any profession of faith that they have is of little or no value, because that supposed faith has left their heart untouched.
James points to two indicators that a person’s religion is real: if it genuinely affects one’s heart, and if that change is reflected in outward holiness and compassion. The internal aspect is reflected by keeping oneself from being polluted by the world, keeping one’s heart free of sin and compromise with the standards and world view of the worldly people around us. This is harder than most people realize. The draw to compromise comes at us from a thousand directions each day, many of them quite subtle and more than a little enticing. Resisting those temptations takes both a solid determination to keep one’s way straight and a solid reliance on the Lord for the power to do it.
The external aspect of true religion James identifies is a compassionate heart that actively reaches out and helps those in need. As he points out in 2:14-16, a compassionate heart that does not actually do anything to help the situation isn’t worth the emotion expended. God is not into symbolic actions or virtue signaling. Real actions, often sacrificial actions, that concretely work to help those in distress are the outward sign that demonstrate a truly compassionate heart.
Pray with Me
Father, we live in an age not only of great spiritual compromise, even among Christians, but in an age when words mean more than actions and virtue signaling without actually putting ourselves out there to genuinely touch broken and hurting people where they are, is considered the ultimate good. How very different from what Your word consistently teaches us. Lord, help me to live a life today that is both inwardly holy and outwardly compassionate in concrete and effective ways, so that You can work effectively through me. Amen.