John,
I was thinking about the scripture today, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world,” and it hit me like a ton of bricks that real religion is mostly a matter of who we are, rather than what we do (I think I would have said, really, that it was the other way around). Anyone can visit the fatherless and widows, but if who they are isn’t full of God’s spirit (or under conviction to receive it), and they aren’t unspotted from the world, then they haven’t done anything of real value. This made me feel like one of my chief concerns in life should be to keep a clean heart, for if that’s lacking, there’s nothing I can do to “make up the difference”. Seeing this also made it more obvious how backwards this world really has it – the world will encourage people to “do good” (you’ll see that on TV, in other religions, etc.), but they think they can do that regardless of who they are, with or without God’s help.
When I was coming into one of our meetings last week, I said hello to a few people at the door. By the time I got to Randell, it hit me, “These precious people!” To have just one person in my life like Randell, a man who understands the truth, walks in it and loves it – what value! I felt like scales fell off my eyes to see the enormous value of anyone/everyone whom God has touched. And we don’t know just one Randell, we know a hundred or more! This reminded me of what the spirit said through Sandy on Saturday night, “Daughters and sons, I’ve given you the best that I have” (or something like that). I feel like God has put the very best people He has in our lives, and we are so very rich because of it.
Taylor
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Amen, Taylor!
To “visit” the sick or someone in need means more than to just show up where they are. In the Bible, whenever God. “visited” someone, things changed! May God help us be like Him, and bring real comfort, encouragement, and healing with us when we visit those in need.
jdc