Get Busy!

We all know what James 1:27 says (or we should) :-)

But do you know what James 1:26 says?  I thought I did, but when I heard the two verses together I was a little surprised.

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 

27Religion 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.

So what’s the opposite of true religion — not controlling the tongue.   Yikes.  Ouch.  Dang.  Yuck.  Oh No!

I wonder though if the Bible were written in our day if it might say, “a tight rein on their tongues and their fingers” because it seems like a lot of what we are saying lately we are saying by typing.

When I was thinking about why James put those two things together I wonder if it just means that when we spend so much time yapping we don’t have time to do what God is really wanting us to do — take care of others.   And certainly if we keep a tight rein on our tongues and fingers, that may help us to be kept away from the pollution — because when we talk (or type) we often hear (and read) stuff that is not helpful.

I’m writing this to myself more than anyone else and giving myself a talking to.  " Shut up and get busy, Claudia.  There’s work to do!"

I am blessed to be involved (and get paid to be involved) in doing what God accept as pure and faultless.   The issue of taking care of orphans (or, I prefer to use the word vulnerable children) is what wakes me up every morning and keeps me going.  It’s also sometimes what keeps me up at night because this issue effects everything.  But I have gotten distracted lately and caught up doing way too much talking about things that matter very little and I need to shut up and get busy.

Every Christmas season I share this song because it is so central to what I believe we are all called to do.

I hope it makes you tear up a bit and then get busy as we do our part to make sure that kids like this little boy have what they need most in life — a healthy family.