Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words religion and religious.
Reading
James 1:26-27—True Religion
Keys for kids
- Many people think religion is bad.
- God tells us about true religion.
- True religion shows in how we live.
Questions
- What do people think religion means? What about you?
- What does James say is pure and undefiled religion?
- How should we live if we are truly religions?
Notes
(See last page for authors. Today’s notes are from a commentary on James by Gordon Keddie)
Religion is a funny thing. Everybody has an opinion about it but not too many admit to having it. ‘Religion’ is what other people have. ‘Religious’ is what other people are. In other words, ‘religion’ is not a word or a concept with which most people feel especially comfortable. To those without a particular ‘faith’, it is something to be despised as primitive or superstitious. But even to earnest Christians, ‘religion’ can seem to be a kind of substitute for the real thing—an empty parody of the biblical faith ‘that was once for all entrusted to the saints’ (Jude 3). ‘Religion,’ then, has become a bad word in the popular mind—to non-Christians and Christians alike it represents what is wrong with human spiritual life.
When the theme of a New Testament epistle is this thing called ‘religion’—James calls it ‘pure’ religion—we inevitably have some explaining to do! We have to define our terms afresh in order to distinguish between ‘the religion that God our Father accepts’ and the multifarious prejudices of men and women. Yes, there is such a thing as ‘pure’ religion! And it is nothing less than the way God wants us to live!
James, then, is talking about the proper form of religious observance—the outward actions of true godliness.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 119b, 34a
Prayer
- Ask God to help you live out true religion.
- Pray for the hearing of God’s word preached this Sunday.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.