So, You Say You’re a Christian?

I have always loved the scripture in James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  In fact, the book of James in its entirety has been my go-to for practical Christian living. Notwithstanding all scripture is given by divine inspiration, I see now that this concept was not original with James. He is just putting into a nutshell, what is a common thread throughout scripture. The bible is riddled with admonition regarding the fatherless, widows, compassion, showing mercy, taking care of the poor and needy, because it is the true heartbeat of God. His Word is given to show us his true nature, this is how we can endeavor to be like Him, by knowing Him.

Well, back to James, who was incidentally the half-brother of Jesus and later became the Pastor of the church in Jerusalem. All those who have been through a higher educational course know that plagiarism is a thing that should never happen. This is quite frequently pounded into the minds of the students and put in bold and heralded down the halls in their sleep. However, I am here to tell you that you can put those quotations into your articles and not only be okay, but also enhance it, and look smart while doing it. I am not saying that James is guilty of any of this, however, he came pretty close to the passage in Zechariah 7:8-10, “And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:  And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.”  Isaiah 10:2 is similar also.

The difference in James’ writing and the Old Testament prophets, is that they pronounce the punishment that will follow if they do not do these things, but James simply lets us know what we need to do to fall into the category of ‘pure religion,’ which will please the Lord. He had experienced the mercy of God that they had never known. We get the opportunity to do positive things through a willing heart of pleasing God, not approaching our lives as always being under a mandate or big hammer that is about to fall, because of the love of Jesus, and His sacrifice on calvary for us.

The preceding verses to the verse we read in Zechariah was a question posed to God by the priests and prophets. “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself (fasting) as I have done in these so many years?”  The feasts of the fourth, fifth and tenth months had turned into fasting when Solomon and Herod’s temples had been destroyed and they had gone into captivity, however, they were witnessing the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel. Their question was a snide one with undertones of boasting of their own righteousness. And the word of the Lord came back to them with a rebuke, “…When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?” He is not telling them not to fast, but that their motives and hearts have not been pure. He them lets them know in verses 8-10 that we read, what they should really have been doing all along.

Let us never think that our fasting and praying makes God a debtor to us. We should not stop fasting and praying, but we should always make sure the motive of our heart is purely to humble ourselves before the Lord and not to twist His arm to do this or that. Whether we are free or captive, feasting or fasting, kindness and compassion towards others is what defines us as Christ like, aka Christian.