Your Daily Devotional for April 24, 2006

April 24, 2006

 

Pure Religion Shows Compassion

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

James 1:27

 

Pure means clean, ethically right, free from corruption, without a mixture of that which is false; genuine. Pure religion flows forth from a heart for God, but how can we know that we are genuinely experiencing a walk with God?

 

Verse 27 tells us that one way is "to visit the fatherless." Pure religion shows a pattern of compassion. The word "visit" stems from the same Greek root from which we find the word "episcopas," a Greek title for the pastor or overseer. By visiting the fatherless, God wants us to enter into a relationship of ministry with them, coming into their lives with help, encouragement, and love. It means taking time to care for someone else and being involved in the lives of people who have real needs.

 

I received a call from a young couple recently. I had tried to win the husband to the Lord about six months ago, and the other day they wanted to come in for marriage counseling. While in my office, they began to share their testimonies with me. They'd each come from broken homes, and the wife said she'd never had the opportunity to see how a man and woman make a marriage work. Even though she had only known brokenness in her life, she expressed a desire to know how to be a good wife. I had the joy of showing her that it starts by being a Christian, and was then able to lead her to Christ.

 

Soon it dawned on me how many young people are being raised without a father, without a mother or in a series of homes. What they need is a Christian overseer: someone with pure religion that will get involved; care for their spiritual need; bring them to church; show them how a man or woman should look, act and walk.

 

In James 2:14-17 the Bible says, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

 

When God defined pure religion, along with the fatherless, He mentioned the widows; therefore, after a time of prayer and devotions at each of our Deacons' meetings, the next item on the agenda of every meeting is the eighty widows of our church. They are royalty, and we want to meet their needs whether they need something as simple as a greeting card or as major as painting a house.

 

What a tragedy if we become so involved with our lives that we don't care for someone outside of our circle of comfort. Pure religion does not discriminate based on what someone else can do for you; it gives whatever it can for the glory of God.

 

There still are people waiting for someone to visit them, love and care for them, and show them the compassion of Christ. Does your faith show by your works? Will you go and visit those that need the Father even when it's not convenient? Why not ask God to use you to be the difference in someone else's life today?

---

================================================
THIS IS AN AUTOMATED MESSAGE PLEASE DO NOT REPLY
================================================
Manage your online subscriptions at
http://www.dailyintheword.org/email/user-login.aspx

To Unsubscribe from this list please follow this link
http://www.dailyintheword.org/email/user-unsubscribe.aspx?s=4159&l=1