Google tells me there are more than 4000 religions in the world. Most of them claim they are true. Christianity also makes this claim based on the words of Jesus: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Even so, there are people who claim to be Christian but live in sin, everything from sexual sin to larceny. In the early church, warnings were given against false teachers and those who claim faith but their actions did not match their claim. James wrote his epistle to confront “faith without works” saying that if a person believes in Christ, it shows in the way they live. He said:
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)
These days, atheistic groups and secular governments have programs for needy people, but this verse does not make that the only criteria for true faith in Christ. It includes the element of purity before God, something available only to those who confess their sin and trust Christ alone for their righteousness. This shows up in a changed life. For instance, “Whoever says he abides in (Jesus) ought to walk in the same way in which he walked . . . . Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:6; 10–11)
This love is not the same as compassion or warm feelings. It is the same as the love of Christ that is sacrificial and acts out of reverence for God and for others. Without faith in Christ and a transformed life, the Bible is clear that the righteousness that God desires is impossible:
. . . . (All) are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:9–20)
These verses narrow the field considerably because anyone who isn’t saved through faith in Jesus Christ remains in bondage to sin and has no capacity to live a holy and selfless life. However, those who do have faith in Christ are filled with both hope and love: “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
PRAY: Jesus, You make it clear who are Your children and who is following self-rule and Satan’s lies. Your Word says, “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother . . . . We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:10–18) Dearest Jesus, increase my capacity to love others as You love me. I want the faith You give me be plainly seen and a blessing to everyone.
PONDER: Rather than comparing myself with those who do not know Jesus, think of the mature love I see in God’s people and rejoice at the power of God to change lives from selfishness to purity and to a visible and sacrificial love and righteousness that is demonstrated by obedience to You and caring for those who are needy.
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