Leaving out the hard part …

Doesn’t it sometimes appear there is no end to just how irrational we human beings — or we Christians! — can be?

Take, for example, a common human behavior we’ve all seen of referring to scripture, or quoting a verse, and leaving off the hard part.

Do we really think we’re free of the hard part if we just leave it off or don’t quote it?!

One verse comes to mind. It’s James 1:27:

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you,” James 1:27.

First, in today’s time you’ll have a batch of professing Christians who lose the entire message of that verse simply because they’re obsessed with arguing, “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship!!!!!!!!!”

Take that up with the Holy Spirit, who inspired James to write what he wrote.

When we do give attention to this verse, we can embrace the first part of it because it’s easy:

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows …”

No problem! Once in a while make a donation to a charity that cares for orphans, and occasionally mow the lawn or do some simple home repairs for a local widow.

Easy-peasy, we think, because we’ve made some kind of contribution toward “caring for” orphans and widows.

Okay, but what about the remainder of that verse?

Have you noticed how we so often leave off the rest of that verse of scripture — the hard part — that says this:

“… and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

I think we leave it off, not just because it can sometimes be difficult to not let the world corrupt you, but because so many of us have “pet corruptions” from the world we don’t want to get rid of.

Even though Jesus Christ sacrificed His life to pay for our corruptions, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome our corruptions, the secret buried in many hearts is a desire to hang on to a few favorite ones.

James says we need to live differently. We need to be people who refuse to be corrupted by the world.

The Apostle Peter would say “Amen!” to that. In fact, he writes about what we need to do to not allow the world to corrupt us and how we should live:

“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy,'” 1 Peter 1:13-16.

That’s a little harder than donating to a charity or mowing the lawn for an elderly widow.

But it’s certainly not something we can just ignore.

What are you doing, how are you living, so that you will not be corrupted by world? Even more, what are you doing, how are you living to be obedient children of God who are holy?

Scotty