Real Ministry (part 5): Genuine living in line with your confession!
James 1:26-27 26 “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
To those who are ready for real ministry, I say to you: go find those who can’t reciprocate, go find the most needy, the most often thrown away, the down-and-outers and get involved in their lives. This, ministering to those who can’t and won’t minister back, serving those who can’t and won’t praise you for what you’ve done, helping those who can’t and won’t ever pay you back, this is real ministry. But lest we miss the point of the scripture, let us remember the context. Real believers should be seeing real change in conduct and character! You’ve expressed your belief and trust in Jesus, you are doing all the “religious” acts like being in church and singing the songs, carrying your Bible and praying before you eat, but how about your tongue? See, if your confession of faith in Christ isn’t changing your tongue then your profession in Christ is useless. Genuine faith will change your tongue, it will change your serve, and it will change your world interaction. Not a single one of us can ever pay Christ anything back, yet He gave because He loves. Genuine conversion should be producing genuine love in our hearts especially for the down-and-outers.