James 1:27 contains a challenging message for modern day evangelicals with its heavy emphasis on personal piety and corresponding deemphasis on social justice. With an increase in introspection sadly comes a corresponding decrease in extrospection. James 1:27 keeps them in balance:
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.
This landed on me this past week as I was preparing to preach last Sunday. Both are necessary. Both are essentials to true religion. It seems to me much of modern Christianity affirms the second half of the equation as essential, but makes the first half optional. This is wrong.
One commentary made a reference to a journal article, 'The Emergent Need for James' in reference to this verse (I did not read it, but the title itself is telling). The Emergent Church, in emphasizing that Christians must mingle with the culture to reach it, and must get involved in meeting present needs have likewise turned a blind eye to the issue of holiness.
James' call to keep these two in balance is a challenge indeed. The importance he gives to caring for the helpless and being a father to the fatherless is challenging in and of itself. The combining of that with personal holiness is a challenge to those who forget about the gospel in their social work, and who forget about holiness in their social work.
And now a specific application that has been much on my heart the past couple weeks in meditating on this verse: abortion.
I remember reading that William Carey's sister testified she never heard him pray without asking God to end the cruel practice of slavery. Yet while many Christians today are indeed praying for personal purity, to avoid adultery and the immoral practices of the world that flood our minds every day, for growth in love for Christ and for greater obedience--I think surprisingly few Christians pray daily that the cruel practice of abortion would end.
The orphans and the widows of our day--other than actual orphans and widows, and they don't count as much now as they used to due to government and and such--are soon-to-be-aborted babies. They are in the most danger. Each year 42 million babies die at the hands of their mothers, I would guess this is than men have died in all wars combined. If not, 2 or 3 years should do it.
This is a hill to die on. It is an essential to genuine Christianity to care about this and to at least pray for its demise, if not become actively involved at least on a personal level with individuals: offering care to those who have gone through it, and support to those who want to avoid it, and education about it to all so that people will turn away from it in horror.
We must not turn a blind eye any longer.