Mud Pies
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the
Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to
keep himself unspotted from the world.
Imagine a young boy that is all cleaned up and dressed for
an afternoon birthday party. His mom now
needs a few moments to finish getting herself ready and tells him, “Run out
back and play on your swing set. I will
be ready in a few minutes. Don’t get
dirty out there. I love you sweetie.”
Charlie loves his mom and he loves playing on the swing
set. He can swing high. He loves to feel the breeze, to see the clouds
in the sky and the ground rushing under his feet. When he swings, he feels as if he is soaring
through the air. So everything is good,
right?
Charlie has the best intentions. Mom will only be a couple of minutes. But lurking in the corner of the back yard is
the mud puddle Charlie dug up yesterday with his toy dump truck. Before he even makes it to the swing, Charlie
sees his dump truck and veers off course.
As he reaches to grab his dump truck, he hears his mom’s
voice echo in his mind, “Don’t get dirty out there.” Wanting to please his mom, Charlie decides
that tossing some rocks in the muddy water would be just as fun. But the rock tossing soon evolves into poking
the mud with a stick, retrieving the broken stick from the mud, grabbing the
dump truck … You know where this is headed.
God tells us that He loves us and He commands us to not get
dirty out there. Like Charlie’s mom’s
voice echoing in his mind, the conviction of the Holy Spirit leads us, prompts
us and reminds us of God’s standards and His will for our lives. The Holy Spirit also empowers us to be
victorious over temptation and sin.
Obviously, I am focusing on the last part of James 1:27, ‘to
keep himself unspotted from the world.’ Being
a Christian is not easy (Matthew 16:24).
Our backyards (our lives) are full of swing sets, mud puddles, green
grass, land mines, mountain tops and valleys.
Often, with the best of intentions, we head off into our day planning on
doing the right thing. But in the
weakness of our flesh, we veer off course and ‘flirt’ with sin (throwing rocks,
poking sticks, then…). See Matthew
26:41.
Our only hope to stay clean in this fallen world is Christ’s
grace and power!
2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me.
We can’t do it ourselves.
We have to submit to Christ, to His authority and power.
See also James 4:8 and 1 John 2:15.
Prayer
Father in Heaver, my Lord, I beg You to give me
the wisdom, strength and courage to stay away from the mud puddles in my life. Help me to focus on the intent of Your word,
not the ‘letter of the law’. I know that
in my strength I will fail. I know that
with You, all things are possible. I
praise Your holy name and thank You for loving me. In Christ name I pray. Amen
