unstained

After a bit of a dry spell, the last few weeks God has renewed a hunger in me for His word. 

This week I have been hanging out in James.  Wow.  So much there.  This is currently what I can't get out of my mind:

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:.....

to keep oneself unstained by the world." 

(James 1:27)  

Unstained. 

Unstained by the world.  Doesn't that sound wonderful?!  And impossible?  Wow, I want that though.  I want that.  I have been chewing on what being unstained by the world means and what that would look like.

Ofcourse my thoughts went straight to:  less facebook, less eating at McDonalds, less TV, less..... 

But then I came upon James 2:13, "mercy triumphs over judgement."  gulp.  Once again, He speaks to me at this intimate heart level....and it hurts....but it's sooo good.  And I am sooo in need of Him.  I told my Creator that I want to follow Him and be unstained and I asked Him what that looks like...and then He told me that, for starters, I need to be a girl who hands out mercy, not judgment.  God is soooo good to lead us in the way that He has called us.  My heart is the issue.  It needs work...it needs some serious spring cleaning!   He has called me to be unstained....and now He is gently (yet somewhat painfully) leading me in that path.  Will I have the humbleness and perseverance to follow?

Charles Swindoll  said, "Christian growth comes through hard-core, gutsy perseverance of applying what you hear and obeying it." 

I wonder if Charles was thinking of the book of James when he wrote that quote?  Here's to hoping that the mighty Holy Spirit will fill me with His gutsy perseverance to follow what He has called me to do!


"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." James 1:22

Unstained by the world.
Unstained.
Unstained.