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. (James 1:27 NIV)
_________
This author blogs regularly about the intersection of foster care/adoption and the Church. Her words spoke powerfully to me, and likely will you, too.
_________
If we are the Church, then we better act like it.
I am not talking about your church building.
I am talking about The Church.
The Bride.
The Body of Christ.
I love Jesus with my whole heart. He is first. Always.
I love His Church. But I will call out hypocrisy when the Church speaks more than it acts.
I am tired of a Church that talks about loving the orphan and the widow but will not step into their lives when it actually costs something.
I am tired of sermons about being the hands and feet of Jesus when those same hands never touch the hurting and those same feet never walk into the hard places.
I am tired of us praying for revival while ignoring the broken families sitting right outside our doors.
Jesus did not sit in the temple and hope the lost would wander in.
He went to them.
He touched the leper.
He ate with sinners.
He defended the woman caught in adultery.
He healed in the streets.
He saw the forgotten.
If we are going to bear His name, then we better carry His heart.
While not everyone is called to foster, every follower of Jesus is called to care.
Not with posts. Not with pity.
With action.
Meanwhile, children are sleeping in offices.
They are being moved so many times they stop unpacking their bag.
Foster families are breaking under the weight.
And churches are spending thousands on lights and fog machines for Sunday mornings.
We cannot call ourselves pro-life and then ignore life outside the womb.
Church, it is not enough to preach about James 1:27. We are called to live it.
Pure religion is not perfect Sunday attendance.
It is showing up in the mess.
It is standing in the gap for kids who have no one fighting for them.
It is mentoring parents who feel like they are drowning.
It is feeding, clothing, protecting, and loving without expecting anything in return.
We cannot keep praying Lord send me and then act like the mission field is only overseas.
The mission field is your street.
Your grocery store.
Your local DSS office.
If you cannot foster, support someone who does.
If you cannot adopt, fight for the ones still waiting.
If you cannot open your home, open your arms. Your hands. Your heart. Your wallet.
Babysit. Cook. Pray. Speak up. Step in. Show up.
For the love of God, stop doing nothing.
The early Church turned the world upside down because they did not just talk about the Gospel.
They lived it.
They laid down their lives for it.
They opened their homes.
They gave until it hurt.
We can too. But first we have to repent for being comfortable.
We have to repent for letting the foster system carry a burden that belongs to us.
We have to repent for worshipping with our lips while our hands stay clean and our schedules stay full of everything but the Great Commission.
This is not about shame.
This is about obedience.
This is about love.
Church, if we are going to sing Spirit lead me, then we better be willing to go where the Spirit actually leads.
Because real love, the Jesus kind of love, moves.
It sacrifices.
It gets uncomfortable.
It costs you something.
Church, it is time to stop talking about the light.
It is time to be the light.
AMEN.
https://thefeatherednestblog.com/f/church–it’s-time-to-be-the-light