Gospel Reflections #197:The Power To Dole out the Love of God

James 1:27 "To care for the widow and the orphan in their time of need, and to guard ourselves against the filthiness of the world, this is piety pure and undefiled before God the Father."

These are the words of the Letter of James, the book of practical Christianity.

Here, taking care of those in need and protecting ourselves from being stained by the world's filth are addressed.

Don't we tend to focus on not sinning ourselves?

I believe that God does not look at how much we sin, but how much we love.

And to avoid being stained by the world's filth, we should not just avoid the wealth, fame, and pleasures of the world, but we should convert what we see, hear, and touch into God's perspective and God's thinking, rather than believing what we see, hear, and touch as it is.

Of course, this cannot be done by us. We receive wisdom and strength from God by continuing to see daily who God is.

I believe that being clean before God is not about putting clean us before God, but about receiving the power to dole out the love God has given us for someone else as we are covered by the righteousness of Jesus, and then putting it into practice.

Purity is not our effort or achievement, but our relationship with God. In a joyful relationship with God, we are given the likeness of Jesus, never our hard work.

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This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, a devoted student of the Bible who passionately embraces the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on the Gospels as a way to reach out to others and spread the message of Jesus. We're sharing her message here so that you too can experience the joy that comes from the Gospel that has filled her heart.