This post is part of a devotional series based on our 2019 Bible Reading Calendar.
God cares deeply about the poor, needy, and afflicted. Psalm 113:7-8 says, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the trash heap in order to seat them with nobles–with the nobles of his people.” It is no wonder, then, that God requires the same for his people.
When we speak of “religion” we speak of a system of beliefs that one holds with a sense of devotion which usually involves devotion to a deity of some kind. Religion, then, involves how we worship and how such worship impacts our lives.
Believing there is one God in three persons, Christians worship God through Jesus. We sing, pray, share, preach, and celebrate all with a focus on what God has done for us through giving Jesus his Son. Jesus even says that to have eternal life is to know the one true God and Jesus whom he sent.
Yet, if we limit our religion to the adoration of God through Jesus with no concern about other people, then we are missing the mark. In telling us to care “for the least of these,” Jesus said that as we do for them, we do for him (Matthew 25:31-46).
It is no wonder, then, that when James wrote of our practice of our religion, he defined it as such: “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (1:27). Later, James will write about how true faith is a faith that works, that does good. True religion, then, is putting our faith into practice.
The world is filled with needs. We see them around us day in and day out. No one person can meet every need. God never intended that to be so outside of Jesus. Yet, we can meet the needs we see and are able to meet. We can put our faith into practice and help take care of those less fortunate than us, just as our Father in heaven raises up the poor and needy and sits them in the place of nobles.
All scriptures taken from the Christian Standard Bible.
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