Religion - James 1:21-27

1:21 - The guide to behavior of a true disciple of Christ continues with James asks the saints to “lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.” Now this is a pretty amusing statement to me because the word “naughty” has a few different connotation in our society but they are mostly benign such as kids disobeying small rules or someone doing something minor that is technically wrong. Interestingly though, this phrase of James’ is cross-referenced to mean “overabundance of malice, trouble, evil.” I don’t really use the word “malice” much so I don’t really have a strong grasp on what it means in this instance, but it would seem that perhaps one way to think about it would be negativity. When I googled it, some synonyms are “animosity, antagonism, bitterness, grudge, hostility.” That’s a pretty comprehensive list and what’s ironic is that my natural state of being is every single one of those descriptions. In contrast to be “naughty” James urges us to “receive with meekness the engrafted word.” Another way to phrase this verse might be “be humble and take the gospel into your hearts instead of rejecting it with negativity.” This really requires a mind that is teachable and desirable to learn. I think so much of the time, especially for me, the negative aspects of my personality are defense mechanisms. The only way to let go of those characteristics is to heal, and the Savior is the one who facilitates that. So it’s kind of a circular motion, where we lay down our hostility and accept the gospel, sometimes bit by bit, and then as the Savior heals us we put down more of our “naughtiness” and pick up more of the gospel. And that cycle just continues until we are perfect, but that takes a while. 1:22-24 – Here we get to one of the most prolific verses in the entirety of the scriptures, James urges “but be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.” This is such a powerful yet simple verse. There is no ambiguity here, it’s not enough to just hear the gospel, we must actually do what the Savior teaches. James makes an interesting analogy to help us understand what it means to hear but not act. I feel like this analogy has the potential to be both simple and incredibly complex. James says that those who hear the gospel but don’t do it are deceiving themselves. They are like people who see their reflection in the mirror, then can’t remember what they look like. This is the simplest explanation but I think that it was meant to be more than this because looking at yourself in the mirror is superficial physical stuff, and “forgetting” what you look like implies a genuine loss of knowledge. What I think might be more accurate might be inferred in verse 24 when James says that the person who looked into the mirror “forgetteth what manner of man he was.” This is a call back to our true nature as children of God. As children of God, we are meant to live the gospel, that’s how we grow into our greatest potential, that’s how we can be truly happy. But the person who hears the word but doesn’t do it, see himself for who he truly is and who he truly can be, but then dismisses it and tries to find happiness in some other field. 1:25 – Part of becoming who we really are, is being obedient to the “law of liberty,” and this is an interesting choice of words because so much of our lives can be spent feeling like the commandments are limiting our choices, or that we don’t get to do what we want to do because all of the “fun” stuff is off limits. I feel like there are different layers to the gospel, or that there are definitive stages to spiritual growth. One of those stages is when we see the gospel not as limiting our choices, but freeing us. We progress from keeping the commandments because we are “supposed” to or because we feel guilty to keeping them because we want to, we see their value and we don’t want to go against them anymore. It’s a significant shift but one that only comes through continued obedience and Jesus speaking to your heart. 1:26 - Another aspect of being “religious” in a summarized way is to bridle your tongue or else you “deceiveth (your) own heart,” and your religion is in vain. This is a concept that is both very simple and very complex at the same time. What does it mean to “bridle your tongue?” The simplest and most accurate answer is to only say what Jesus wants you to say. Seems simple enough, but then what exactly does Jesus want us to say? Does he want us to be silent until the Spirit comes and specifically says, “Say this thing to this person” and then we go back to our silence? Of course not. So how do we know what is ok and what’s not? Well, we are given some pretty specific instructions on what we should and should not say. We are not to gossip, we are not to lie, we are not to speak harsh words, we are to encourage and uplift, we are to impart the good word of God. There are all these specifics and we are never going to get it all right all the time, but the more we want to get it right and the more we put effort into doing our best, the better we will get at it. Again, it’s not an exact science because there are a lot of factors that go into play, are we going to hurt someone’s feelings by being too honest, how our emotions fit in, it’s a very complicated subject. In addition to our general everyday interactions with people, we have the times when Jesus wants us to say something very specific, or in my case a lot of times, stop saying specific things. Sometimes we have to correct an incorrect gospel principle, sometimes we need to address a difficult topic in a sensitive way. And sometimes we need to stop talking about how important it is to get vaccinated and just be quiet with my thoughts and opinions because that’s not the hill Jesus wants me to die on. It’s a delicate balance all the way around, but I guess the best thing we can do is to practice communicating in positive, uplifting ways and also be worthy and cognizant of the Spirit’s guidance in our lives. 1:27 – Including the JST version of this verse, James gives the most concise definition of “religion” saying, “to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and to keep himself from the vices of the world.” It’s really an interesting feeling that this verse conveys because it just kind of implies to me that to live after the manner of Christ is a quiet life of keeping the commandments and caring for the most vulnerable among us. The IM comments, “Anciently, widows and orphans were among the most underprivileged members of society and had few rights or opportunities; thus, the Lord repeatedly commanded His people to care for them and for others in great need.” There is also the fact that Joseph died somewhere between the time that Jesus was 12 to 30. My guess is that it was closer to 12 than 30 but who knows. So Jesus personally knew what it was like to be fatherless and have his mother be a widow. It’s interesting to think about because I imagine Jesus as a late teen working late to finish a project to make extra money to provide for Mary and the rest of the kids, which we know there were several. I imagine Jesus going hungry because he gave his dinner to one of his younger siblings because food was tight that night. I imagine him playing games with the other kids because he had to step into the fatherly role of “man of the house.” And I imagine Jesus holding Mary as she cried because she missed the love of her life, dancing with her at parties, essentially being her “significant other.” And as hard as he worked to fill the gap created by Joseph’s passing in the hearts of those in his family, it still wouldn’t have been enough .And he also would have recognized that most other widows and orphans wouldn’t have someone like him who tried to fill that gap in their lives. Jesus was especially sympathetic to the plight of widows and the fatherless because that was the state of his family for probably a long time.