here's my story for this week. i better understand james 1:27
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.
as i consider james (brother of Jesus) and what he must have gone through, it makes a bit more sense to me.
james was probably left fatherless at a pretty young age (the last time we hear of him is when Jesus is only 12 - then he's gone; most believe that he died after Jesus entered manhood...13 years old)
if Jesus was only 12/13, that means james was much younger than that. imagine the trauma of growing up poor - the man was the one who earned the income. w/o dad, they were stuck depending on Jesus to earn the money - since he entered the workforce as an apprentice, he probably did not earn a whole lot. meaning the family probably suffered a good bit.
james is an orphan and his mom is a widow.
i had the privilege of serving a widow and an orphan this week. pretty difficult, but i know that it pleased the Father. i'm fortunate in that part of my role at FCFC is to serve and advocate on behalf of those that may not have enough for whatever reason. pretty cool.
let me ask...
how are you serving your community?
how are you serving members of your church?
how are you serving God where He has you?
