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 by the world.
James is not giving us a two step solution to salvation. He is not giving us a new way to please God. He isI am not saying that if we take care of the weakest and live an obedient life that we will earn God’s favor. Instead, he is saying that when we are in right relationship with God, we will be living lives that reflect God’s character. God is concerned about the weakest in society. He often called His people to be guardians of those who could not take care of themselves. We are to be a voice for the voiceless. We are to reflect His character in the way that we deal with the weakest among us. We are to have compassion on them, as the Lord has compassion on us. But in our dog eat dog world, compassion is devalued and underrated. And when we reflect His character in this way we are not accepting of the world’s standards for action. We live by God’s standard, not our own or the world’s. We learn what God is like and then we live like He lives. It is easy to let the world creep into our lives. We are inundated daily with the world’s values. It is like trying to walk through a swimming pool without getting wet. We must live in the world, but not allow the world to penetrate our spirit. If we are filled with the Spirit, then there is no room for the world. Notice that it is our responsibility to not let the world pollute us. We have to deny entry to the illegal aliens that want to invade our spirit. They are foreigners, even if we used to be just like them. We are new in Christ. That might have been part of our past, but it is not part of our future in Christ. We must choose to be filled with Christ and so deny the world any place in us.
The Arnold Journey 