“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
These are some of the best and worst verses in the Bible. It’s one of those rubber-meets-the-road moments when you are forced to look at whether or not your actions line up with your beliefs. There are a whole lot of us that say one thing and do another (hint: all of us…), so we need to really examine who we are claiming to be. If I’m advertising myself as a person of deep faith in Jesus, I better be able to watch my mouth. If I don’t I am just kidding myself. Whatever I’m calling “religion” is completely worthless. What comes out of your mouth is the measure of your inner spiritual life.
If you want to actually follow God, he gives a pretty clear instruction: take care of marginalized people and be different than the world around you. In our current political and social climate, caring for people in distress is actually a dividing issue in the church. No matter how you vote, as a Christian you are called to care for those who are unable to care for themselves. And being different means that you don’t try to cozy up to power or money or anything else our culture values.
Following Jesus isn’t about who you are when everyone is watching. It is about who you are behind closed doors, with your most intimate relationships and even when you are all by yourself. Yes, there is grace for you when you sin and lose control of your tongue or turn a blind eye to someone in need. But lack of cultivation in these areas will dry out your inner spiritual life, and pretty soon it’s all just for show. If you want to know God in the deepest parts of your soul, control your tongue. If you want to truly be a representative of Jesus, care for those hurting around you. The ones that have no one else. That is where Jesus is.