By AYUBA YILGAK’HA
WHOEVER is determined to live his life beyond the status of a nominal religious person must understand the scope and depth of pure religion. As written in James 1:27 – 28, “Pure and undefiled religion before our God is this: To look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself unstained by the world.” In other words, pure religion means showing empathy over the distress of those in need and keeping-off anything that is tantamount to corruption. It is love in action for the common good.
He that loves is in the pure religion’s equation hence the command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Luke 10: 27, NIV).
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:4 – 7, NIV). In other words, love is virtuous and there is no corruption in it.
Therefore, pure religion is understanding what God’s perfect will which is rooted in love is all about. It is about cultivating the seed obedience and bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit to make the world go round for all. This understanding is a witness to justice which knocks out all excuses or claims of ignorance by man.
God’s will and His power is made manifest, first, through nature and, second, by the teachings of His Word. Kindly spare a few minutes read Romans 1:16 – 32 (NIV) with me to get the details. It is a long read, but reproduced here for ease of reference.
Here we go: “16 For I (Apostle Paul) am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
“God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
“21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
“24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -who is forever praised. Amen.
“26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
“28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’ s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
From the reading above, the understanding of God’s will and the implications of not practicing pure religion is clearly stated in black and white.
God is a loving welfareist and an uncompromising disciplinarian. Hence, He must be served as such. Never hesitate to give a helping hand when you are in the power to do so, and strive hard to resist or run away from seduction and motivation for the things of this world. May God help us to key into that which pleases Him always.