Worthless Religion

Journey through James: 1:26

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.— James 1:26

Many people claim to be religious—many claim to follow Christ. I have recently listened to podcasts and videos of people who claim to love Jesus while advocating for polygamy and other sexual sin. Not all who claim to follow Christ actually follow Him. 

While it may be easy to look at the example I just mentioned and think those people are not following Jesus. However, James gives us a sobering warning at the end of the first chapter. James tells us plainly that if we think we are religious yet we do not control our tongues then our “religion” is worthless. James once again points to our ability to deceive ourselves. We can look at others and discern that their “religion” is not consistent with what the Bible teaches. However, we can also be blind to our own issues and tendencies. We often come up with excuses for how we act or what we say. The tongue is the indicator of what is in our hearts. If we claim to follow Jesus, yet we use our tongues to gossip or vent, we are showing our religion is worthless. We cannot claim to love God and others and then use our tongues to blaspheme and tear down people we don’t like. Just in recent days, a prominent leader within reformed evangelical circles had to step down from ministry because he had been using anonymous social media accounts to tear down and bash other evangelical leaders he did not agree with. Our words give evidence of where our heart truly is. This is a sobering warning for all of us. With God’s help, we need to take stock of our words and what they reveal about our hearts. Sooner or later what is in our hearts will find its way out into our words. 

The other sobering thing about this verse is the reminder of the truth that we often deceive ourselves. We don’t look at our hearts accurately. We like to think that certain actions can cancel out evil thoughts or words. We all struggle with our words and thoughts. The answer is not to pretend we are more religious than we are. We should not hide these things or pretend they don’t exist. When our words don’t honor Christ, we need to confess them and repent. We cannot control our tongues by sheer force of will. We need God’s help and He is willing to give help to those who seek Him. Instead of hiding our mistakes, we should be thankful that God exposed something in our lives that needs to change. Then we should repent and seek His forgiveness. With God’s help and His grace, may our religion not be worthless.

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!— Psalm 141:3