James 1:26-27

"If anyone considers himself religious and YET does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is WORTHLESS."
We could be as holy as holy could be.. We could go to church 5 times a week, sing praises in our loudest voice, yell Amen's and Hallelujah's at the pastor's every word - and yet, if we go out into the world and our tongues follow the ways of the world, EVERYTHING we have done in the house of God is NULLIFIED. It says so plainly in the Bible, what use is it if we are so religious and we proclaim to love our God, but if our tongues act as a small flame that brings an entire forest down in a huge fire.. Our religion and the life we live is a lie. Our sacrifices unto God is made invalid. Gossip, slander, envy, lies - we shoot it off our mouths like God overlooks it. As if the God we serve considers murder worse than slander. As if God holds us accountable for causing another to stumble, but not from the fruits of our lips.

"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."
And yet so often when a person less 'perfect' than us comes along our way, we laugh and pretend to love them. We offer them a hand that has been blackened by the dirt of our own sins and words that have been tainted by the deceitfulness of our own tongues, and we think that we are loving like Jesus has called us to do. We dare to serve while standing, unaware that one needs soiled knees and a humility bigger than our pride to wash another's feet. We blatantly follow the ways of the world in regard to relationships and materialism. The body that says to unbelievers, "Love not the ways of this world!" is the same body that unashamedly conforms to the patterns of the world.

So many thoughts ringing through my head, conviction after conviction after conviction. We think we are okay but we are stumbling blocks to those who try to seek truth. We are not who we think we are - Judge me by the fruits that I produce. Where are the fruits we are supposed to be seeing?