Study of James: God Has Set Us Free
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Peace to Live By Study of James: God Has Set Us Free - Daniel Litton
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James 1:25: “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (ESV)
I finished up our sermon last time talking about the person who looks at their problems in the mirror and yet walks away and forgets about them, without doing anything to help them. The Word of God, the Bible, is our mirror. It is where we get the understanding of how are to be, as people. However, a quick glance isn’t going to work for us. Just looking at ourselves in the mirror quickly may make us understand any obvious problems. But if we really want to understand where we are at, as Christians, then we need to “look into the perfect law,” not just glance at it.
Notice first our attitude in coming to the Word of God, as James states here. We come to the Word of God, we look at it (that is, we read what it has to say). And then (don’t miss this), we persevere. If we are in the first two levels of inner-self, we cannot do that. We can’t persevere. We come to the Bible and immediately become discouraged by what it has to say because we are so negative. With a negative mindset, how can one really succeed? Why, the person cannot even get past themselves. They are not in control of their lives. Their lives have them by the horns, and they are just a continual victim to what hands they are dealt. Thus, a sense of freedom in living as God wants us to live is absent.
The Law of Liberty, yes, that’s what James is talking about here. Recognizing God’s truth brings us freedom. That’s the bottom line. Some folks think that the Bible actually restricts. Those kinds of people see it as a large manual of rules and regulations, like something that you would read at your place of work. Just one restriction after another. This is restricted and that is restricted. It’s just a bunch of don’ts. Don’t do this and don’t do that. So, the Bible, which is meant to bring freedom for all people, actually then is seen as enslaving those who adhere to it. If this is your view, however, you are missing the whole point.
If you were to take a random sample of people from the world, say half people who didn’t follow any sort of religion and the other half who were Christians, what would you find? Hopefully you would find that it is the Christians who are living in more freedom. Doing whatever we want, without any rules at all sounds really good. It is definitely enticing and appealing. However, we know that doesn’t work because with all things, within the Creation itself, there is order. There has to be order for true freedom. Order begets freedom. That’s why I have developed my view of the Four Levels of Inner-Self. I want you to see, by this order, that it is really through a positive flowing order that one’s life truly benefits.
And this is what we find in the power of giving up control. When we try to control everything, we are a slave. We are a slave to our own passions and desires. Again, as I’ve already talked about at length, wanting something too much costs us freedom. The key is to be free of attachments. Remember what I said? “Nothing matters but God.” He’s the only attachment that does not hurt our freedom. However, being too strongly attached to all other things will cause us pain because the core essence behind true freedom is no attachment.
Let us bring to mind what God said to Jeremiah. He said, “I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers’” (ESV). Do you see? The way to the promised land, the way to success, is by doing what? It is by following the real God and by paying careful attention to all that he has instructed us in his Word. So, the only way out of any type of current enslavement that we have is to consider what the Bible says. This is how we reach the promised land, or what I would call the Above State of Inner-Self.
This reminds me of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. There, he said, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8, ESV). This is what we are like when we follow after other gods. If we are eager for this or that, we are liable to do this or that pagan ritual. There are all different kinds of ways the world offers to us to try to get what we want. There is limitation, self-command, self-restraint, hard work, correct maneuvering, manipulation, misrepresentation, falsification, suppression of the truth.
Recall in the second message of this study I talked about what I have called the Law of Liberty in our lives. I said that just as God created Adam and Eve in the Garden in the beginning, and gave them an abundance of freedom, so also God, through what he has said, has given us a tremendous amount of freedom. So much focus and attention can be placed on what God has forbidden, as if it is by considering the forbidden that we get a life of true freedom. Actually, it is what God has allowed that shows us our true freedom.
Yes, there are certain things that God has crafted in us of which he decided the way it was going to be. Even zooming out from that, though, was it not God who created the whole Universe, set all things in order, and even created the Earth with all its functioning and the universal laws behind that? This being the case, then, we can also recognize that God has created all persons individually. We did not decide whether we are a boy or a girl, what kind of skin we have, how tall we are, what color hair is on our head, our eye color, etc. Does this mean God is the ultimate dictator? Does this prove he does indeed restrict freedom?
You see, though, isn’t that really where it stops? Isn’t that where freedom begins? No one gets to create their own Universe and Earth. We are all the same on that level. We do, nonetheless, get to choose what we want to do with our lives, and how are going to act. We get to choose whether we will be in relationship with the Creator, or whether we choose to believe something else. If we do believe in Jesus, we know he gifts us with certain spiritual gifts for the common good. Did not Paul say, though, that there are even certain gifts we can desire if we want to? So, in a sense, we even have say in those spiritual gifts.
James said that we are to be “a doer who acts” in order that we “will be blessed in [our] doing.” Action is important. That’s what we’re talking about here. Not looking into the mirror and getting no feedback out of it, no direction in truth that will benefit us. We can act, of course, that is easy. We can be like the pagans Jesus talked about a minute ago, who by acting, think they are making great gains. We must conclude that the only acting that works is the acting that we really want to do, that is, acting that comes from our hearts.
We’ve all had this experience. In grade school or even college you took classes that you really didn’t want to take. They were required, so you had to take them in order to move closer to the goal of succeeding. It wasn’t fun, but because of the way the school systems are, it was required. So, both you and I know that feeling—the feeling of doing something we really don’t want to do. It’s a restriction of freedom. If we succeeded in those classes, it was because we looked past them at what? We looked at what doing good would get us in the near future. The suffering was temporary and the reward was right around the corner. If we didn’t do well in them, it is because we were enslaved by the very thought of them, and gave into all the negative emotions that accompanied taking the classes. We obviously then didn’t end up with a good end result.
If we know this feeling then, why do so many people spend their lives following after it—following Christianity in a way that is uncomfortable and even dreadful? One might say, “It is the next life that matters. I am storing up rewards for myself there.” As I have just established, good performance doesn’t come from going through the motions. And if going through the motions isn’t what God wants, then how is it that many rewards will be benefited from doing what God doesn’t want? Do you see? So, is it true that life doesn’t really matter, and that it’s the next life that matters? I think your focus is on the wrong thing.
All things in this life have to be eventually surrendered. Even my body has to be surrendered. You see, on the news, when there is a scary event taking place, that all the people run to try to get away from whatever it is. Why do they do that? Why do the people run for safety? They run because, within them, is the belief that one has to keep their body safe in order to live life. So, the body is needed for living. Is that true, though? Well, according to the Bible, obviously not. We don’t need our bodies to experience life. If someone was to get shot or whatever and dies, all that happens is they lose their capacity to live in that body. But they don’t lose their capacity to live. Living continues regardless of what has transpired.
This all comes down to the fact that “All that matter is God.” That is because when we transcend this life, we will be immediately in his presence, and we will be in his presence forevermore. Bringing this back around, does this mean, again, that this life doesn’t matter? Well, considering what I have said, I think your focus is on the wrong area. This is not a zero-sum game. Just because “All that matters is God” doesn’t mean that this life cannot enjoyed while it lasts. Even if we are to say, “This life doesn’t matter in comparison to God,” that doesn’t then mean that this life then is to be immediately given up, or that it is to become monkish and dreadful.
So, we are to be “a doer who acts” and we “will be blessed in [our] doing.” We have the best of both worlds, then. We have God, or rather, God has us. So, upon exiting this life, we are immediately with him. While in this life, however, Jesus said he would be with us always—that he would never leave us. Because we are a new creation, since we have believed in Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf and his resurrection from the dead, we are now alive. So, as Paul said, “whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8, ESV).
It’s not enough to know what to do. As I said, it’s not enough to just look into the Law of Liberty. I love to learn. A lot of you love to learn. Learning is really fun. Studying things really can be hobby. It doesn’t matter, though, how much we study and learn, if we don’t put any of that knowledge into practice. If we don’t make use of it, it won’t do us any good at the end of the day. I have to take what I learn, and say, “Okay. How does this apply to what I need? How can I implement this strategy today.” And then, I actually have to do it. We “act” when we put into practice.
Our acting is not what we may think it is. Our acting is not what we think it is. Our doing actually becomes surrendering. We surrender when we accept the truth of what we see in the mirror. Like I said, the mirror often reveals things to us, that, at first glance, aren’t pleasant. Like, for instance, we may look into the mirror and see that we are too overweight. Upon this realization, we have one of two choices. We can either act upon what we have seen, and make a strategy to lose some weight, or we can just walk away and ignore that truth. The choice is ours. We don’t have to begin the process of losing weight, but at the same time, if we don’t we cannot expect to reap the benefits that will come from being thinner. We persevere in the truth only when we accept it, when we surrender to it.
Next James says, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.” Now there is a shift from what we see to what we say. We move here from looking to speaking. What we see really is up to us to decide, as is what we speak. At least, we should have control over our mouths. We should seek to be welling up good within us in order that they may come out through our speech. If we don’t have good built up inside of us, how can good come out of our mouths? What we say reveals what is on the inside.
It is interesting how James equates religious, that is, a person being considered religious and what a person actually says. Note that the tongue has to be bridled. The Level Three and Level Four Christians can undoubtedly testify to this fact. They would tell people they need to bridle their tongues. To bridle means to bring under control. It’s not so much making sure we don’t say the wrong thing, but really it is filling ourselves with good things so that our hearts aren’t filled with evil to bring out of our mouths. If we are simply just watching what we say, we are cutting the grass. We aren’t getting to the root of the problem. The root is what is actually inside our hearts.
People can say good things that aren’t really coming from their hearts. They can pretend to be righteous. They can say this or that because that’s what they feel they’re supposed to say. This is pretending to be religious. It is giving textbook answers, the correct answers, but they aren’t coming from the person’s hearts. Thus, this means the person is deceiving themselves. They think they are religious because they have become good at faking people out, or we might say they have become good at acting. Remember, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Jewish Law were really good at this during Jesus’ time. And those people surely are still around.
Part of being authentic is being honest and upfront. If a person is hiding things, if he or she is just pretending, the authenticity isn’t there. The religion of this individual is worthless. These people can be easy to identify at times, and sometimes you have to get to know a person. Usually, however, there is the thought right at the beginning of the person speaking, “Something here just isn’t right.” Perhaps it is a religious pride, a self-righteousness, the common attribute of the Level Two person, that is shinning forth. It becomes obvious to the listener. The person’s pride is seeping out, and they don’t even know it.
For me personally, I tend to notice this when the person is quick to speak negatively about politics. I mean, we’ve all experienced this. Think about it. The person talks about how the other party, the one that opposes theirs, is so bad and how the people are complete idiots. And they talk about their political positions and how correct they are. It is All or Nothing Thinking run amok. One side is completely good, which is their side, and the other side is completely evil, and things are painted in such a way to make this seem to be the obvious reality. And no one can disagree with them, you don’t and I don’t, because we know if we do, they will bite our heads off too. Their tongue isn’t bridled and their heart is deceived.
I get tired of having to seemingly agree with such persons. However, you cannot disagree with them because they are not open to others views. They have already decided they are absolutely correct and there is no hope in even getting them to try to see otherwise. Their positions are severe. They are too strongly opinionated. The pride is seeping through, and the person can become even tiring to be around. Perhaps that person is you. Perhaps on occasion it is me. We need to be careful in these areas. We need to be careful we are not too strongly opinionated, because with those strong positions comes pride. With pride, obviously then comes deception. And then, after all of this, the position we hold is really worthless.
There have been times with certain friends of mine that I have wanted to talk about certain political values. I have wanted to talk about important values and positions held by President Kennedy or President Roosevelt or even President Wilson but felt that I could not get for fear of getting snapped at by the turtle. Certainly, I do have friends who I can speak freely about in these matters. I should be able to speak freely with anyone about them. However, there are some I just don’t feel comfortable talking about them with. That I think illustrates the severity I am talking about here.
Finally, in finishing chapter 1 of James here, he states: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Let’s not get caught up in focusing on specifically visiting orphans and widows in their affliction because most of us aren’t going to do that in our lives. We can focus on, though, what the greater picture is here. What is the first thing we can note here? Well, we can note that these people, the truly religious people, the good people, are people who are focused on what? Well, they are focused on others. This is an attribute of the Levels Three and Four Christians. The focus is off the self and on others. In this case, the focus is not only on others, but more precisely it is on others who have a great need.
The kind of people James’ talks about here (the orphans and widows) are those who don’t have any families per se. The orphan’s parents have died, or the child has been put up for adaption. The widow’s husband has died, and may not have any children or siblings who can take care of her. These are people that are at an extra level of need. And the truly religious person is the one who realizes the need, and then seeks to actually help the people.
I always find it interesting when people who aren’t part of any particular church are the one’s who are actually helping these kinds of people while the righteous are making excuses. Truly, our American society has taught a lot of individuals that it’s right to help the lowly in need. All kinds of people then are seen to be helping those who need it. Our society prides itself in this. We as religious people can often be quick to say, “Well, those people helping don’t know Jesus. So, it doesn’t count for them. They’re just doing that so they can feel better about themselves, so they can feel they're a good person.” Meanwhile, we aren’t doing anything to help the needy.
All this gets really annoying. When I noticed those around me doing more than I am, I am not one to try to outdo them—though, perhaps I should. I actually admire what they are doing, no matter who they are. I assume people do these things out of right motive. I mean, why not? Why should I be assuming people have an ulterior motive? Who has been stained by the world? Them or me? We’re busy in the world, with our work, our families, our church activities. They’re busy helping the needy. We’re stained, captured, by the world. That’s our focus.
It’s a sad day when people who don’t necessarily identify as Christian put to shame those of us who do. It’s sad for us when they are doing more, when they really are fulfilling James commandment here more than we are. Really, it comes down to this prayer: “God, save us from being self-righteous. Save us from those who say they do good. Save us from those who criticize the ones who are actually doing good. Help us to be like them.” Yes, I have actually prayed that God helped me to be like a person I know who has practiced sin, but actually showed more care for the needs of others than I had.
Let us be careful, fellow Christ-followers. Let us be sure that our hearts are in the right place. Let us be the ones who’s religion is real, genuine, caring, and loving, and not the one’s who are among the worthless, the pretenders, the criticizers, and the wannabes. Let us be unstained from that which is in us, that evil lurking inside of us, which finds its origin, its happiness in the world. Let us actually be like Jesus.
- Daniel Litton
Today’s Acknowledgments:
Psychologists David R. Hawkins and David D. Burns
James 1:25: “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (ESV)
I finished up our sermon last time talking about the person who looks at their problems in the mirror and yet walks away and forgets about them, without doing anything to help them. The Word of God, the Bible, is our mirror. It is where we get the understanding of how are to be, as people. However, a quick glance isn’t going to work for us. Just looking at ourselves in the mirror quickly may make us understand any obvious problems. But if we really want to understand where we are at, as Christians, then we need to “look into the perfect law,” not just glance at it.
Notice first our attitude in coming to the Word of God, as James states here. We come to the Word of God, we look at it (that is, we read what it has to say). And then (don’t miss this), we persevere. If we are in the first two levels of inner-self, we cannot do that. We can’t persevere. We come to the Bible and immediately become discouraged by what it has to say because we are so negative. With a negative mindset, how can one really succeed? Why, the person cannot even get past themselves. They are not in control of their lives. Their lives have them by the horns, and they are just a continual victim to what hands they are dealt. Thus, a sense of freedom in living as God wants us to live is absent.
The Law of Liberty, yes, that’s what James is talking about here. Recognizing God’s truth brings us freedom. That’s the bottom line. Some folks think that the Bible actually restricts. Those kinds of people see it as a large manual of rules and regulations, like something that you would read at your place of work. Just one restriction after another. This is restricted and that is restricted. It’s just a bunch of don’ts. Don’t do this and don’t do that. So, the Bible, which is meant to bring freedom for all people, actually then is seen as enslaving those who adhere to it. If this is your view, however, you are missing the whole point.
If you were to take a random sample of people from the world, say half people who didn’t follow any sort of religion and the other half who were Christians, what would you find? Hopefully you would find that it is the Christians who are living in more freedom. Doing whatever we want, without any rules at all sounds really good. It is definitely enticing and appealing. However, we know that doesn’t work because with all things, within the Creation itself, there is order. There has to be order for true freedom. Order begets freedom. That’s why I have developed my view of the Four Levels of Inner-Self. I want you to see, by this order, that it is really through a positive flowing order that one’s life truly benefits.
And this is what we find in the power of giving up control. When we try to control everything, we are a slave. We are a slave to our own passions and desires. Again, as I’ve already talked about at length, wanting something too much costs us freedom. The key is to be free of attachments. Remember what I said? “Nothing matters but God.” He’s the only attachment that does not hurt our freedom. However, being too strongly attached to all other things will cause us pain because the core essence behind true freedom is no attachment.
Let us bring to mind what God said to Jeremiah. He said, “I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers’” (ESV). Do you see? The way to the promised land, the way to success, is by doing what? It is by following the real God and by paying careful attention to all that he has instructed us in his Word. So, the only way out of any type of current enslavement that we have is to consider what the Bible says. This is how we reach the promised land, or what I would call the Above State of Inner-Self.
This reminds me of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. There, he said, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8, ESV). This is what we are like when we follow after other gods. If we are eager for this or that, we are liable to do this or that pagan ritual. There are all different kinds of ways the world offers to us to try to get what we want. There is limitation, self-command, self-restraint, hard work, correct maneuvering, manipulation, misrepresentation, falsification, suppression of the truth.
Recall in the second message of this study I talked about what I have called the Law of Liberty in our lives. I said that just as God created Adam and Eve in the Garden in the beginning, and gave them an abundance of freedom, so also God, through what he has said, has given us a tremendous amount of freedom. So much focus and attention can be placed on what God has forbidden, as if it is by considering the forbidden that we get a life of true freedom. Actually, it is what God has allowed that shows us our true freedom.
Yes, there are certain things that God has crafted in us of which he decided the way it was going to be. Even zooming out from that, though, was it not God who created the whole Universe, set all things in order, and even created the Earth with all its functioning and the universal laws behind that? This being the case, then, we can also recognize that God has created all persons individually. We did not decide whether we are a boy or a girl, what kind of skin we have, how tall we are, what color hair is on our head, our eye color, etc. Does this mean God is the ultimate dictator? Does this prove he does indeed restrict freedom?
You see, though, isn’t that really where it stops? Isn’t that where freedom begins? No one gets to create their own Universe and Earth. We are all the same on that level. We do, nonetheless, get to choose what we want to do with our lives, and how are going to act. We get to choose whether we will be in relationship with the Creator, or whether we choose to believe something else. If we do believe in Jesus, we know he gifts us with certain spiritual gifts for the common good. Did not Paul say, though, that there are even certain gifts we can desire if we want to? So, in a sense, we even have say in those spiritual gifts.
James said that we are to be “a doer who acts” in order that we “will be blessed in [our] doing.” Action is important. That’s what we’re talking about here. Not looking into the mirror and getting no feedback out of it, no direction in truth that will benefit us. We can act, of course, that is easy. We can be like the pagans Jesus talked about a minute ago, who by acting, think they are making great gains. We must conclude that the only acting that works is the acting that we really want to do, that is, acting that comes from our hearts.
We’ve all had this experience. In grade school or even college you took classes that you really didn’t want to take. They were required, so you had to take them in order to move closer to the goal of succeeding. It wasn’t fun, but because of the way the school systems are, it was required. So, both you and I know that feeling—the feeling of doing something we really don’t want to do. It’s a restriction of freedom. If we succeeded in those classes, it was because we looked past them at what? We looked at what doing good would get us in the near future. The suffering was temporary and the reward was right around the corner. If we didn’t do well in them, it is because we were enslaved by the very thought of them, and gave into all the negative emotions that accompanied taking the classes. We obviously then didn’t end up with a good end result.
If we know this feeling then, why do so many people spend their lives following after it—following Christianity in a way that is uncomfortable and even dreadful? One might say, “It is the next life that matters. I am storing up rewards for myself there.” As I have just established, good performance doesn’t come from going through the motions. And if going through the motions isn’t what God wants, then how is it that many rewards will be benefited from doing what God doesn’t want? Do you see? So, is it true that life doesn’t really matter, and that it’s the next life that matters? I think your focus is on the wrong thing.
All things in this life have to be eventually surrendered. Even my body has to be surrendered. You see, on the news, when there is a scary event taking place, that all the people run to try to get away from whatever it is. Why do they do that? Why do the people run for safety? They run because, within them, is the belief that one has to keep their body safe in order to live life. So, the body is needed for living. Is that true, though? Well, according to the Bible, obviously not. We don’t need our bodies to experience life. If someone was to get shot or whatever and dies, all that happens is they lose their capacity to live in that body. But they don’t lose their capacity to live. Living continues regardless of what has transpired.
This all comes down to the fact that “All that matter is God.” That is because when we transcend this life, we will be immediately in his presence, and we will be in his presence forevermore. Bringing this back around, does this mean, again, that this life doesn’t matter? Well, considering what I have said, I think your focus is on the wrong area. This is not a zero-sum game. Just because “All that matters is God” doesn’t mean that this life cannot enjoyed while it lasts. Even if we are to say, “This life doesn’t matter in comparison to God,” that doesn’t then mean that this life then is to be immediately given up, or that it is to become monkish and dreadful.
So, we are to be “a doer who acts” and we “will be blessed in [our] doing.” We have the best of both worlds, then. We have God, or rather, God has us. So, upon exiting this life, we are immediately with him. While in this life, however, Jesus said he would be with us always—that he would never leave us. Because we are a new creation, since we have believed in Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf and his resurrection from the dead, we are now alive. So, as Paul said, “whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8, ESV).
It’s not enough to know what to do. As I said, it’s not enough to just look into the Law of Liberty. I love to learn. A lot of you love to learn. Learning is really fun. Studying things really can be hobby. It doesn’t matter, though, how much we study and learn, if we don’t put any of that knowledge into practice. If we don’t make use of it, it won’t do us any good at the end of the day. I have to take what I learn, and say, “Okay. How does this apply to what I need? How can I implement this strategy today.” And then, I actually have to do it. We “act” when we put into practice.
Our acting is not what we may think it is. Our acting is not what we think it is. Our doing actually becomes surrendering. We surrender when we accept the truth of what we see in the mirror. Like I said, the mirror often reveals things to us, that, at first glance, aren’t pleasant. Like, for instance, we may look into the mirror and see that we are too overweight. Upon this realization, we have one of two choices. We can either act upon what we have seen, and make a strategy to lose some weight, or we can just walk away and ignore that truth. The choice is ours. We don’t have to begin the process of losing weight, but at the same time, if we don’t we cannot expect to reap the benefits that will come from being thinner. We persevere in the truth only when we accept it, when we surrender to it.
Next James says, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.” Now there is a shift from what we see to what we say. We move here from looking to speaking. What we see really is up to us to decide, as is what we speak. At least, we should have control over our mouths. We should seek to be welling up good within us in order that they may come out through our speech. If we don’t have good built up inside of us, how can good come out of our mouths? What we say reveals what is on the inside.
It is interesting how James equates religious, that is, a person being considered religious and what a person actually says. Note that the tongue has to be bridled. The Level Three and Level Four Christians can undoubtedly testify to this fact. They would tell people they need to bridle their tongues. To bridle means to bring under control. It’s not so much making sure we don’t say the wrong thing, but really it is filling ourselves with good things so that our hearts aren’t filled with evil to bring out of our mouths. If we are simply just watching what we say, we are cutting the grass. We aren’t getting to the root of the problem. The root is what is actually inside our hearts.
People can say good things that aren’t really coming from their hearts. They can pretend to be righteous. They can say this or that because that’s what they feel they’re supposed to say. This is pretending to be religious. It is giving textbook answers, the correct answers, but they aren’t coming from the person’s hearts. Thus, this means the person is deceiving themselves. They think they are religious because they have become good at faking people out, or we might say they have become good at acting. Remember, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Jewish Law were really good at this during Jesus’ time. And those people surely are still around.
Part of being authentic is being honest and upfront. If a person is hiding things, if he or she is just pretending, the authenticity isn’t there. The religion of this individual is worthless. These people can be easy to identify at times, and sometimes you have to get to know a person. Usually, however, there is the thought right at the beginning of the person speaking, “Something here just isn’t right.” Perhaps it is a religious pride, a self-righteousness, the common attribute of the Level Two person, that is shinning forth. It becomes obvious to the listener. The person’s pride is seeping out, and they don’t even know it.
For me personally, I tend to notice this when the person is quick to speak negatively about politics. I mean, we’ve all experienced this. Think about it. The person talks about how the other party, the one that opposes theirs, is so bad and how the people are complete idiots. And they talk about their political positions and how correct they are. It is All or Nothing Thinking run amok. One side is completely good, which is their side, and the other side is completely evil, and things are painted in such a way to make this seem to be the obvious reality. And no one can disagree with them, you don’t and I don’t, because we know if we do, they will bite our heads off too. Their tongue isn’t bridled and their heart is deceived.
I get tired of having to seemingly agree with such persons. However, you cannot disagree with them because they are not open to others views. They have already decided they are absolutely correct and there is no hope in even getting them to try to see otherwise. Their positions are severe. They are too strongly opinionated. The pride is seeping through, and the person can become even tiring to be around. Perhaps that person is you. Perhaps on occasion it is me. We need to be careful in these areas. We need to be careful we are not too strongly opinionated, because with those strong positions comes pride. With pride, obviously then comes deception. And then, after all of this, the position we hold is really worthless.
There have been times with certain friends of mine that I have wanted to talk about certain political values. I have wanted to talk about important values and positions held by President Kennedy or President Roosevelt or even President Wilson but felt that I could not get for fear of getting snapped at by the turtle. Certainly, I do have friends who I can speak freely about in these matters. I should be able to speak freely with anyone about them. However, there are some I just don’t feel comfortable talking about them with. That I think illustrates the severity I am talking about here.
Finally, in finishing chapter 1 of James here, he states: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Let’s not get caught up in focusing on specifically visiting orphans and widows in their affliction because most of us aren’t going to do that in our lives. We can focus on, though, what the greater picture is here. What is the first thing we can note here? Well, we can note that these people, the truly religious people, the good people, are people who are focused on what? Well, they are focused on others. This is an attribute of the Levels Three and Four Christians. The focus is off the self and on others. In this case, the focus is not only on others, but more precisely it is on others who have a great need.
The kind of people James’ talks about here (the orphans and widows) are those who don’t have any families per se. The orphan’s parents have died, or the child has been put up for adaption. The widow’s husband has died, and may not have any children or siblings who can take care of her. These are people that are at an extra level of need. And the truly religious person is the one who realizes the need, and then seeks to actually help the people.
I always find it interesting when people who aren’t part of any particular church are the one’s who are actually helping these kinds of people while the righteous are making excuses. Truly, our American society has taught a lot of individuals that it’s right to help the lowly in need. All kinds of people then are seen to be helping those who need it. Our society prides itself in this. We as religious people can often be quick to say, “Well, those people helping don’t know Jesus. So, it doesn’t count for them. They’re just doing that so they can feel better about themselves, so they can feel they're a good person.” Meanwhile, we aren’t doing anything to help the needy.
All this gets really annoying. When I noticed those around me doing more than I am, I am not one to try to outdo them—though, perhaps I should. I actually admire what they are doing, no matter who they are. I assume people do these things out of right motive. I mean, why not? Why should I be assuming people have an ulterior motive? Who has been stained by the world? Them or me? We’re busy in the world, with our work, our families, our church activities. They’re busy helping the needy. We’re stained, captured, by the world. That’s our focus.
It’s a sad day when people who don’t necessarily identify as Christian put to shame those of us who do. It’s sad for us when they are doing more, when they really are fulfilling James commandment here more than we are. Really, it comes down to this prayer: “God, save us from being self-righteous. Save us from those who say they do good. Save us from those who criticize the ones who are actually doing good. Help us to be like them.” Yes, I have actually prayed that God helped me to be like a person I know who has practiced sin, but actually showed more care for the needs of others than I had.
Let us be careful, fellow Christ-followers. Let us be sure that our hearts are in the right place. Let us be the ones who’s religion is real, genuine, caring, and loving, and not the one’s who are among the worthless, the pretenders, the criticizers, and the wannabes. Let us be unstained from that which is in us, that evil lurking inside of us, which finds its origin, its happiness in the world. Let us actually be like Jesus.
- Daniel Litton
Today’s Acknowledgments:
Psychologists David R. Hawkins and David D. Burns