“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.” (ESV)This is a verse that is so packed with meaning it is hard to read it and not feel convicted. Upon hearing this verse several times I decided to do a deep study on the verse and really and truly understand what it means to show God religion that is pure and undefiled. James starts out his letter to these 12 with some very basic truths of the Christian faith. He goes over what to do if you don’t understand something from God, how to act in trials, how to control your speech and how to be doers of the word and not merely hearers. Lastly he finishes up this first chapter by concluding with the verse mentioned above.
I originally looked at this verse and saw pure and undefiled and took them to mean clean, holy and set apart. Upon studying these words I realized that God had meant them in an even deeper way. The word pure in this verse literally means clean and pure, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit. The word undefiled means not only unsoiled, but also free from that by which the nature of a things force or vigor is impaired. The second part of the meaning of the word undefiled blows me away. God is saying that a religion like the one mentioned in these verse is a religion that doesn’t impair the force or vigor of your nature. Unlike the attitude most of us have picked up in church, God never intended for Christians to be boring, withdrawn and lacking in passion. Words like this just go to prove that. God desired for us to naturally be vigorous and have a driving force in life. However, the nature of things in this world impair that. This pure religion (or worship) for God is one in which the things of this world can’t stop or impair that vigor.
This verse is one in which many short term mission trips can be justified, many prayers can be said, and people can still walk away feeling like they fulfilled their life duty to “visit” these orphans. However, the Greek word for visit actually means to look after, look upon in order to help or benefit, to care for, and to provide for. I do not think this is an area that God says “thank you for that one time you did…” and you never have to care about it again. I truly think this is an area that God is saying “I need your help, forever”. In America we seem to be pretty good about making sure our widows are cared for. We don’t usually let Grandma starve because we are lucky enough to see our grandparents at least every now and then. Even if they are placed in a nursing home we have ministries that specifically target them. However, since orphans aren’t directly in our face in America it’s almost like we don’t even realize the need. For example, did you know there are an estimated 163 MILLION orphans in the world? Did you know the majority of them aren’t even in an orphanage (they live on the streets)? Did you know America currently has an estimated 500,000 foster care children? Did you know that there are estimated 300,000 churches in America, which would mean each church would only need to take in 2 foster care children in order to alleviate ALL of the American orphans!?
If the church truly wants to glorify God and show Him true worship I think this is the next step. We must realize that God’s word in James 1:27 and throughout other parts of the bible isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command. One survey suggested that of all the evangelical churches in America the majority give less than 1% to helping reach, rescue and make disciples of these orphans. Less than 1% to a group of people who due to their young age cannot even help themselves! I believe God desires for us to have true and undefiled religion with Him because He knows that this is just one of the steps to restoring our passion and escaping from the things that impair our force and vigor. So if you can’t do anything else… pray… pray that our churches would become more aware of the needs and step out to be Christ on this earth. We may be the only hope some of these children have to ever learning about their true father who loves them.
The LORD is far from the wicked,but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
Proverbs 15:29
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