"Sarge"
Director NCFP
13 posts
Feb 16, 2009
6:42 AM
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What does it mean to be religious? Does going to church mean you’re religious? Does sporting a fish emblem on your minivan mean you’re religious? Here’s how Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines religious. It says religious is, “relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity.” It goes on to say that the word, religious, goes back to the Latin religio meaning “supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, and perhaps comes from religare to restrain, tie back.” So, according to the dictionary, if someone is religious he believes in the supernatural and lives a life which reflects that belief. So religious seems to be the external, the fleshing out, of internal beliefs.
The Bible says something similar. Here is the Apostle James’ definition of religious, If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 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 1:26,27). Of interest to me is James’ definition of true or pure religion that the Father honors. He says it is marked by two qualities: a) it looks after those needing protection, namely orphans and widows, and b) it protects oneself from the pollution of the world in which we live. True religion that believes in and honors God, the Father, cares about the weakest among us. Orphans and widows have no fathers or husbands to provide, protect, love, or lead them. When you step in and care for them, you reflect the Father who provides, protects, loves, and leads us.
Secondly, those with true religion protect themselves from the polluting effects of the world. The Greek word for polluted means “unstained.” The world will stain all who come in contact with it. How do we protect ourselves from the staining power of the world? James 4:7 says we are to do two things: draw near to God and resist the devil. James 4:8 defines resisting the devil as washing our hands and purifying our hearts. Don’t touch that which is unclean and if we do, we must wash quickly by running to the cross to repent and receive forgiveness. What is it about the cross that can remove the stains on our souls? The blood of Jesus. His blood “purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The hymn writer, Charles Wesley, exclaims, “His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.”
Jesus’ blood is God’s spiritual detergent for cleansing the sin-stained and making them truly religious. Are you truly religious? How would you know? If you meet the needs of the weakest among us and protect yourself from being stained by the world.
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