What does it mean to be religious? I think if you ask people on the street you'd get an answer something like this. A religious person is someone who goes to church and follows all of the customs of his or her particular religious system.
This might be what the world considers as true religion, but it's not how the Bible defines true religion.
In the epistle bearing his name, James the brother of Jesus gives us the accurate definition of what constitutes true religion.
As a side note let me whole heartedly recommend the book of James for your continued reading and studying. Of all of the epistolary writings, James sounds the most like Jesus when He walked the earth. In fact, there are at least eighteen passages in James that echo the Sermon on the Mount. That could be a sermon in itself.
But, back to true and pure religion. According to James, pure and undefiled religion has three components. First, in order to be truly religious, a person must have control of his tongue. Second, a person must visit the orphan and widows in their affliction. And third, a person must keep himself unstained by the world.
Let's look at each of these components of true and pure religion a little closer.
The first necessity required before one can say he possesses pure and true religion is the control of one's tongue. James calls it a bridled tongue like placing a bit in a horse's mouth to control where it will go.
James has quite a lot to say about the tongue in his epistle. In fact, much of chapter 3 is taken up with the subject. In chapter 3, James says that the tongue a fire. He also calls it, "a restless evil, full of deadly poison." These statements of James are so true.
I can remember many times in my life when people, especially so-called religious people, said terrible, hurtful, and nasty things to me. At one time, I thought about giving up on everything having to do with church and organized religion. In fact, because of hurtful things said and done by church people, there was quite a period when I stopped going to church.
Unfortunately, and may God forgive me, I know I've said hurtful things to others. This shouldn't be. All of us need to control our speech. As one author has put it, we should speak words that heal and not words that hurt. What a difference we could all make in the world if we spoke nicely to one another and if we spoke blessings over one another.
Our words reveal what is in our hearts. Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 12:34 when He says, "For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." If our hears are filled with the love that comes from abiding in Christ, our words will be words filled with the love of Christ. The closer we grow to Jesus, the more we become like Jesus. This will be reflected in the words we speak.
The second component of true religion James mentions is visiting the orphans and widows in their affliction. In Bible times, orphans and widows represented the most vulnerable members of society. In the patriarchal, ancient world if a woman was a widow, she was often totally bereft of financial support. The same was true of orphans. They were considered the lowest of the low. Both groups were often ill treated and exploited.
In the prophetic books of the Old Testament, God often condemns a society as being very sinful if they mistreat the vulnerable people in their midst. In the book of Amos, God brings condemnation because, "the people trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted." Psalm 82 also speaks about this subject.
The truly religious person cares about those who are suffering and less fortunate. the one who practices true religion stands for the rights of the poor and stands for social justice. He works to feed the hungry and cloth the naked.
Always remember the words of Jesus from Matthew 25, "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
The final component of true religion James mentions is keeping oneself unstained by the world. In other words, the true believer is a person who practices holiness.
It is so unfortunate that in our current day that so many believers live lives indistinguishable from those who are outside the community of faith. Polling has shown that Christians have the same rate of divorce, attend the same type of entertainment, and engage in illicit sexual behavior at a rate as high as those who are without the Lord.
Scripture calls us to come out from among the world and be separate. The one practicing true religion is one who follows the commandments and rules of personal behavior outlined in the Word of God. As Jesus said how can you say you love me but not do what I say.
If we begin to implement these three areas of true religion how much richer can all of our lives be. All things start, however, by repenting of sin and turning to Jesus as Savior and Lord. If you've never trusted Jesus as your personal savior, I invite you to do so today.
Lord, thank you for these good words from the book of James. Help us by the power of your Holy Spirit to be people who practices pure and true religion. We ask this and all things in Jesus name. Amen.
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