It’s What’s Inside That Counts

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.

THERE’S A SECTION OF SCRIPTURE that is like being thrown into an ice-cold lake on a windy day—it gets your attention. It is so easy to fall into “spiritual” autopilot. Here are some signs from the book of Isaiah:

Day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. “Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?”

Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. . . . Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

Then God goes on to describe what “real” spirituality looks like: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (verses 6-7, NIV).

Then God shares the impact “real” spirituality will have on your own life: “Your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer” (verses 8-9, NIV).

Are you “real”?