Monday, April 30, 2012

in the world, not of the world

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27 ESV)

I was reading this tonight and I thought, how does one keep oneself "unstained from the world."? I mean, we are called to reach a world that is perishing, to jump in and throw a lifeline to those sinking in their own sin. How can we then stay dry? I started thinking about that line between "in the world" and "of the world." Oftentimes, it is so blurry. We're raised to believe that God is black or white, right or wrong. But lately I've been lead by God to explore when and how He works in the gray areas. Please do not misunderstand, God is the same yesterday, today and forever and He absolutely has laid out for us rights and wrongs. Many things in His word are laid out in black and white, whether we choose to believe it, or twist it with interpretation. A lot of times, He speaks clearly, with a megaphone. But He chooses to whisper in the wind sometimes, to bolster our faith and keep us seeking after Him. I mean, if He laid it all out for us, what need would we have to learn more about Him. We'd just be robots, carrying out his programming.
Anyways, this has diverged from my original subject, but some good thoughts nonetheless. What do you think?