James 1:27

NIV: 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.

The Message: Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

This is all about being in the world but not of the world. It’s about taking a stand, sticking to our principles, staying true to the teachings of the bible. Have you noticed how many in the church today are compromising on bible teaching? How things that are forbidden as sins are condoned, even encouraged at times? It is not just a case of hate the sin but love the sinner any more, but it is one of love the sinner and love the sin also.

For instance, it says in the bible that homosexuality is wrong, it is a sin (Lev 18:22), just as adultery, lying, cheating, gossiping, pride, anger, lust, gluttony and so on are sins. Yet we now have practising gay bishops in the Anglican church. How can that be right? Of course, I may be completely misinterpreting scripture here, and I am sure someone will put me right if I am, but surely this is a compromise, a case of adapting to the world and not abiding by God's word?

What about the times when we each individually stay quiet, refrain from speaking when we should take a stand and speak out, give the Christian viewpoint? I know I will stay quiet when my Dad starts to rant on about the church, about people believing in the Holy Spirit, about how mistaken and misguided so called believers are. I know I tell myself it is because he is impossible to talk to when he gets like that, he is so adamant, so hidebound, so fixated in his views, but in reality, is it because I do not want a confrontation and just take the easy route of staying quiet?

We need to stay firm in our beliefs, to be students of the bible, read and study God's word so that we are not taken in by false teachers, false prophets. How can we spot a wolf in sheep's clothing if we do not know what a wolf looks like, what a sheep looks like? It is a case of testing everything with the bible , using that as our guide, our plumb line, the basis for all that we believe. How else can we stop ourselves from being polluted by the world, from compromising, from watering down the gospel so as not to give offence to anyone?

Then we also have to put into action what we learn from the bible, not just read about it and file it away in the "to do" list. We need to show we are Christians through our actions, our speech, our lifestyle, the way we live our lives. We need to care for others, give to charity, look after the widows and orphans, and not just be Christians on the outside, where it is all show, a pretence and does not really touch our hearts.

On the day of judgement, when we all stand before God, how will our lives measure up to His standards? Will our lives reflect the love of God, Christ at work in our lives, or will they merely be a reflection of the world and all the enemy has made it ?