James...

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. "
james 1:27
okay, that's crazy.
just think about what james is saying right there. it seems like one of the themes of james is purity, especially purity of speech. in the verse right before that it says "if anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not BRIDLE HIS TONGUE but decieves his own heart, this man's religion is worthless."
and worthless meaning idle, fruitless, useless, etc..
so we as christians can think were striving to live out a pure religion before God, but really because we dont live a life of purity, were decieving ourselves.
we can donate thousands of dollars every year, we can go to the soup kitchen every month, we can even travel overseas and do "good things", but its not real religion in the eyes of our Father unless were trying to keep ourselves unstained from the world. verse 27 isnt an either/or instruction, it says AND to keep oneself unstained from the world.
it goes both ways too, we can try to be as holy as we want, but without an outpouring of the love Christs poured out on us in our lives it's also useless...i guess it all comes down to love. Christ's love for us, our love for Him, and that love being put into action through us. when we have a pure love for Christ and His word, it comes natural to want to love others and to try to glorify God through our lives by walking in the righteousness He's given us.
haha there were probably a lot of run-on sentences in there...but i just felt like sharing that. it's something God has been revealing a lot to me lately:)