Seeking Jesus First Nov. 27,2024

When is religion useless? Religion is useless when it is defiled with faithless, hopeless and loveless words in the mouth and in the heart.

James 1:26–27 (NKJV): If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives 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.

Religion is useless if it doesn’t change the way you speak and act. Those who think that they are religious (in the pure sense of the word) but do not align their words and deeds with faith, hope and love are deceiving themselves.

“Pure and undefiled” - undefiled basically defines pure. Pure means that it is free from any other substance. Think of how the law commanded farmers to not plant mixed seed in their fields (Leviticus 19:19). Psalm 119 asks, “How can a young man keep his way pure?”, and then it answers the question, “By keeping it according to God’s Word.”.

When we disciple people, we teach them to keep the word of God in their mouths and in their hearts. When we tell people to stop doing something, the emphasis becomes the thing that we want them to stop doing. This fills their thoughts with negativity. They will, potentially, either hate themselves for messing up or hate someone else for messing up. However, when we teach them to keep God’s word, the focal point becomes God’s word. This fills their hearts with positivity and gives them a goal and a target to aim at rather than one to avoid. Furthermore, focusing our efforts on memorizing, meditating, speaking, singing and believing God’s word fills our mind with the promise and leads us away from condemnation.

Which statement carries the power to bring freedom? “Don’t sin.”, or “We are the righteousness of God in Christ.” When I say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ”, I am taking the focus off of sin and teaching my mind how to think.