Perfect Religion

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” -James 1:27

As believers, there is a fine line we must walk between caring nothing for this world, and caring fully for those in this world. The Bible tells us that as citizens of heaven we are not of this world. But scripture also makes it clear that while we’re here, we are called to serve those in this world. Essentially, one could say that the best way to serve God is to serve others without a hint of earthly motivation for personal gain or satisfaction.

This is obviously a very high calling. And so it is important to remember that falling short of this call does not cost us our salvation. The scandal of God’s love is that even when we fail to fulfill his commands, even when our following him is not pure and faultless, he still loves us. He still wants to use us. This means we are free to strive without fear of condemnation.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I thank you for your grace that saves me time and time again when I fall short. I pray that you would strengthen me as I strive to be more pure and faultless in your sight by continuing to throw off the cares of this world, and serve wholeheartedly the people in it.