James 1:26-27 “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their 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.” Today's episode reminds us how important it is for us to watch our words. It also reminds us that faith needs to be put into action. We can't just talk about helping those in need, we actually need to step out and help those in need. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keep A Tight Rein on Your Tongue
James 1:26-27 “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their 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.”
There were two things that really stood out to me in this morning’s verses. The first one is when it says, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” I think we all know people who claim to be religious and yet say all sorts of unkind things about other people. Sometimes, I don’t think they even know what they are saying is wrong.
They may think they are just saying things that are true, so it is not a big deal. However, sometimes that is gossiping about others. We need to stop and ask ourselves, does this person need to know this thing about the other person? Why am I telling them them? Is it so they know this person a bit better? Is it because I don’t agree with it, and I want others to reassure me that I am right and this other person is wrong? Am I just talking about this other person because it makes me seem like I know things others do not know?
We might get caught up in gossip not because we want to but because everyone around us is gossiping, and we don’t know how to avoid it. I have been in this situation before where those around me were talking about someone, and I didn’t want to participate, and yet I also felt like I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t want to seem like I thought I was better than anyone else, and I didn’t want to speak up and then make them feel judged. However, what I am realizing right now is that it is more important for me to think about how God is thinking about me than it is about those who are around me. Also, I am doing them a disservice if I don’t speak up, as God is not happy when we gossip. If we love our friends and family, we should do all we can to get them into heaven. This means if we see that they are gossiping, we can let them know that we don’t want to participate and that God doesn’t want us to gossip.
I do think how we tell them this is important. I think whenever we see something, and we feel called to speak up, we must always speak up out of love and genuine concern for their soul. We should speak with nothing but love in our voices. We shouldn’t be filled with judgment or condemnation. When Jesus was here on Earth, He saw all sorts of wicked things, and yet he didn’t condemn people; he convicted them, and many of them changed their ways. He did not talk down to them, although He could have because he was fully God and fully human. He did not make them feel bad about what they were doing. He made them feel loved. Jesus loved them completely just as they were, and that was something people had never felt before. They did not change because He yelled at them and told them what they were doing was wrong. They did not change because of his judgment or condemnation. They changed because of His love for them. Those around you deserve the same. They need your unconditional love for where they are right now, and then they will begin to move towards where the Lord wants them to be!
The second thing that stood out to me in this verse is the last line. “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.” I love this because it reminds us that religion is not just a set of beliefs. It is a way of life. It is not just a set of words and prayers, but it is action as well. We can’t just talk a good game and not live it out. We can’t talk about how important it is to take care of those who don’t have anything and yet do nothing to help those in need.
The verse says, “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 this world.” We have to take care of the orphans and the widows in distress. What does this mean? Does this mean if we see a homeless kid on the street we need to pick him or her up and take them home? No, but it does mean we should do something, not just walk buy and pretend we don’t see them. That seems to be what most of us do. It is too hard to look at them. We don’t have to give them money because we heard that is bad because they will just use it for drugs. So, we don’t know how to help them, and so we ignore them and pretend we don’t see them. This hurts them. Have you ever had someone walk right by you and pretend not to see you? It is not a good feeling.
There are plenty of ways we can help those in need. We can physically go out and help them. For instance, I have a few friends who go out to the streets and talk with the homeless. They learn their names, spend time with them, and get to know them as people. Who were they before they ended up on the streets? What is their story? They might bring them some snacks of something else they might need.
I know another few friends who go out and minister to the homeless living in Boston. They meet with them, and they offer to pray over them for whatever it is they need prayer for. It is a beautiful thing. However, even if you feel like you can’t go out and take care of their physical or spiritual needs yourself, you could always donate to an organization that helps provide for those in need. There are so many good ones. There are a lot of organizations that are looking to help take care of God’s forgotten people. It is up to us to figure out how we can help them.
We can’t just talk about how Jesus was there for everyone and that he took care of the poor and the lame, and yet we just ignore them. We need to figure out how to put our faith into action. We need to figure out how to keep a tight reign on our tongue so we are only saying things that bless others. We need to take captive our thoughts so we are only sharing nice things about others. Then, we also need to find a way to do as Jesus did. We need to help those in need.
The other thing the verse says that I didn’t really touch on is that we need to keep ourselves from being polluted by this world. This one is not that easy. The Lord is calling us to live in this world but not be of this world. He wants us to remember that we belong to Him, and so we need to protect ourselves from the many ways that the world would like to corrupt us. One of those is by not keeping a tight reign on our tongues. Our words can corrupt us and those around us. We must watch what we say. We must watch what we do and who we do it with.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each one of us here today. Lord, we love you, and we thank you for showing us the way you want us to live. We ask that you help us to live in a way that shows the world that we are your followers. We ask that you help us to keep a reign on our tongue as that is not easy to do. We need your help, Lord. We also ask that you help us figure out how we can help the orphans and the widows. Lord, put it on our hearts to help more. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as I am, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Fear not, my children. Move forward. My Spirit will lead the way and He will tell you what to say and what to do. If you move forward, you will find joy.”