GOT POLLUTION?
James 1:27
Everybody today is concerned about the environment. You may be surprised to learn that God, Himself, is VERY concerned about pollution!
However, God’s view of pollution is entirely different than the world’s view of pollution. God is concerned about the world polluting us, not us polluting the world. 2 Peter warns that it is easy to turn back to the things of the world that polluted our lives before we were saved. (2 Peter 2:20)
Isaiah says that we are to keep from polluting the Sabbath day. Wow, I’ve never thought of not keeping the Sabbath as a day to honor God as ‘pollution.’ But, that’s what God’s Word says. (Isaiah 56:2)
James says that our religion is pure when we help widows and orphans and keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. Once again, God’s concern is for our heart’s being polluted by the things around us.
Of course, common sense recognizes that God did tell us to live responsibly and look after the good things He has given us. (Genesis 1:27-30) However, His greatest concern is the pollution of my life by the world’s attitudes, schemes and ways.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Prayer: Father, help me to not pollute my heart, mind or body with the things of the world. Give me strength to resist temptation and to cling to what is good. Amen.
Scriptural references:
2 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” KJV
Isaiah 56:2 “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”
Genesis 1:28-30 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number;fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.