Daily Devotional

How interesting that I just wrote about my wonders between ritual and real worship and then I receive this devotional email. It's good and I wanted to share it with you! (maybe this could be your devotional for today)

James 1:26-27 – 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 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 from the world.

Which do we have…do we have rutted religion…or real relationship?

Let’s break it down in smaller pieces and try to get a better handle on what James is saying here.

§ If anyone considers himself religious – that just has ‘I’m a good person’ written all over it doesn’t it? I’m religious…I’m a good person…I go to church…I tithe my money…I give to Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon…I go to Sunday school, I even volunteer on a couple of committees…I listen to southern gospel music, I forward religious emails…etc…etc…etc.
§ Yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue – Mouth Management - interesting that the first correlation James makes to authentic godliness is how one handles their speech! What is the primary cause of most of our problems relationally in our families and friendships inside and outside the church? The way we manage our mouths and if we are truly born again, our tongues must be controlled for as James says in chapter 3, it is a fire set on fire by hell…Jesus also said in Matthew 12:34 – For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him…by your words you will be acquitted and condemned. James took this one step further in 4:13 – Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money’. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. What do we boast with? Our mouths!
§ He deceives himself and his religion is worthless – the person rutted in religion is living a hypocritical and self condemned life…he is living a lie…on the outside on Sunday, he may look like an angel dressed up nice and hair looking handsome, but on the inside he is utterly and completely dead to God and engulfed in his flesh. He has deceived himself…he has a religion that is worthless – all of his efforts are like filthy rags unto a Holy God. That’s rutted religion and it is worthless.
§ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this – those acts of good works that the almighty God considers worthy of acceptance to him and truly a priority…such as…
§ to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted from the world – God takes us from the pride and arrogance of a self-exalting and boastful mouth to what God truly wants from those who are really his servants…giving of ourselves to others. True religion that is accepted by God as pure and faultless is not about you, it’s about what you can do for the most helpless in our society…those that have been forgotten…those that cannot defend themselves…those that have no one else…those are the ones that God wants you to spend your time with…and as you do this, you will keep yourself from being stained by the world. How can we be enticed to sin when we are out serving orphans and widows? Have you ever thought about that? God has a little purifying mechanism built into this verse for you – if you take care of orphans and widows, you will not have time nor will Satan have the opportunity to snare you into his web.

Are you enslaved by rutted religion…or have you been set free by a real relationship?

Most people are legalistic in the way they understand God. They think that they have to do something repeatedly over and over to become good enough to win God’s favor, so they will be accepted by Him. That is not the way that Christianity functions.

Salvation is by faith in Christ alone. One becomes a Christian by hearing the Word of God, being convicted of their sinfulness by the Holy Spirit, having their mind opened to the reality of their situation and believing in Jesus as the Son of God that died to take away the sin of the world.

Galatians 2:20 – 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Did you catch the part of the verse that said…but Christ lives in me? There is the relationship! The Son of God through repentance and faith has come to dwell in your soul through the presence of the Holy Spirit…that is the relationship. When you have a relationship with somebody how do you know you have a relationship with them? You think about them, you long to talk to them, you have affections for them, you want to help them – they become a part of your life…same with the Almighty God – He comes to live in your body when you come to repentance and faith in Christ. This is not rutted religion…this is a real relationship.

People that have not been born again, but think they have because they did a few religious things can deceive themselves for their entire lives in the church…sitting there Sunday after Sunday, month after month…year after year…thinking they have religion…but deceiving themselves.

The harsh truth is that in reality they do have plenty of relationships. They have relationships with everything else except the Savior…they have a relationship with their Bible…their favorite church pew…their favorite music…their preacher…their church building…their Sunday School room and their pot luck fellowship…their parking place…they have all that covered…it is highly organized and highly polished and it looks fantastic…but they have NO real relationship with God and they prove it every time they open their mouths.

So, the final question is how do I know if I’m in rutted religion or real relationship? Paul gives us a big help here in Galatians 5:16-26, a passage that you have heard the majority of your life, probably. Paul gives us a clear distinction between the works of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. Read Galatians 5:16-25.

As we live and the fire of trial comes upon us…how we respond will determine whether we are saved or not. Matthew 10:21-23 – Brother will betray brother to death, and a father child, children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

So when all hell breaks lose and your faith is put to the test and you are squeezed…what comes out…flesh or Spirit? That will be a good indicator of whether you are in rutted religion or real relationship.

Philippians 2:5-11 – your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


Believe, Pray, Grow, Serve, Give, Tell
Shelby Hazzard, Pastor