Unstained From the World

James 1:26-27 “If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is vain. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Bridling the tongue may be one of the most difficult things to do in life. When interacting with other people, our egos can get injured so quickly that we strike back with cutting words. Or our egos could desire to be puffed up, so we use our words to boost ourselves in the eyes of other men. Or our instead of using our words to encourage and build up one another in the faith (1 Thessalonians 5:11), we use them to slander other people and bring them low. By using our words as weapons, can we really say that we are unstained from the world? How can we claim to be living for the Lord when we use our words the same as everyone else would which is often in very destructive or prideful ways.

We are also instructed to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. We should be cautious not to use these visits as an opportunity to promote ourselves to other followers of the Lord or to seek their recognition. Let our works be known to God, but let us not seek the praise of men. If we tend to the sick, the lonely, and forgotten and then turn around using our words to tell everyone about our acts of kindness, then did we do these actions out of kindness? Or did we do it to soothe our own egos and gain notice for our good works?

Let us have pure and undefiled religion in taking care of orphans and widows in their affliction, bridling our tongues, and keeping ourselves unstained from the worldly and empty pursuits.