If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

James 1:26-27 NLT

We love to use James as a bit of a weapon to tell people what they should be doing or what they shouldn't.

But if we just sit with this passage for a bit something deeper starts to emerge...this little phrase "you are fooling yourself."

This is something that we can't fix on our own. How do we stop fooling ourselves? 

Listening to our own words. 

Loving those who can give nothing in return.

Thinking about the impact of our world, our culture on us and insulating ourselves from that (while still living in it).

We need a firm place to stand. 

(Stand firm in the Truth that you're God's Beloved)

We need God at work in us.

We seek the reflective instruction from scripture.

We choose to follow Jesus. 

We can seek and value the input of others.We're in this together. 

We actively insulate ourselves from what the world says success looks like.

We choose to love those who can give nothing the world values back.

And we listen for how our own words express our own heart.

#james

#invitation 

#itsaheartthing 

#youareBeloved