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 (James 1:27).
The Bible tells followers of Christ to help the needy and, indeed, there are many followers of Christ who do good works to serve the needy. However, what many often to do realise is that helping the needy people of the world can taint oneself. This is because many needy people are people of the world, who do not know God. They are wicked sinners like any other wicked sinner, rich or poor, powerful or lowly, famous or unknown.
Needy people can be even more mammonised than those who are rich in the earthly sense of being rich. Their heart can and is full of wickedness and vile evil (Jeremiah 17:9). This is all too easy to forget as one is thinking about their earthly plight and how less "fortunate" they may be compared to oneself. Such thinking is a manifestation of earthliness, that feels humanistic sympathy for people, because of earthly circumstances, rather that one which weeps for their lost souls.
It is so easy to be biased toward the poor, out of one's own fleshly earthly vile sympathy. That is why Leviticus 19:15 has to tell us:
‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
Leviticus 19:15 commands us to be neither partial to the poor, or to the mighty. Partiality is a manifestation of self-centredness, and the hatred of truth, a manifestation of double-mindedness which seeks not the right path, but what is favourable to ultimately oneself.
While follower of Christ must help the needy, allowing oneself to be tainted by earthly worldly sympathy towards them will not only taint one's good works, it will totally destroy one's good works that one does for Christ. For to have even the single bit of earthly worldly sympathy for the needy leaven the whole lump and will render one's works for Christ useless and only fit for being trampled upon by the world.
As Jesus said:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).
The Bible tells followers of Christ to help the needy and, indeed, there are many followers of Christ who do good works to serve the needy. However, what many often to do realise is that helping the needy people of the world can taint oneself. This is because many needy people are people of the world, who do not know God. They are wicked sinners like any other wicked sinner, rich or poor, powerful or lowly, famous or unknown.
Needy people can be even more mammonised than those who are rich in the earthly sense of being rich. Their heart can and is full of wickedness and vile evil (Jeremiah 17:9). This is all too easy to forget as one is thinking about their earthly plight and how less "fortunate" they may be compared to oneself. Such thinking is a manifestation of earthliness, that feels humanistic sympathy for people, because of earthly circumstances, rather that one which weeps for their lost souls.
It is so easy to be biased toward the poor, out of one's own fleshly earthly vile sympathy. That is why Leviticus 19:15 has to tell us:
‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
Leviticus 19:15 commands us to be neither partial to the poor, or to the mighty. Partiality is a manifestation of self-centredness, and the hatred of truth, a manifestation of double-mindedness which seeks not the right path, but what is favourable to ultimately oneself.
While follower of Christ must help the needy, allowing oneself to be tainted by earthly worldly sympathy towards them will not only taint one's good works, it will totally destroy one's good works that one does for Christ. For to have even the single bit of earthly worldly sympathy for the needy leaven the whole lump and will render one's works for Christ useless and only fit for being trampled upon by the world.
As Jesus said:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16).
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