What comes to your mind when you think of a religious person?
(Preachers, priest, fancy religious clothes, the pope....etc)
Definition of Religion: A set of beliefs; something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience.
What do you think God views as a true religion?
James 1:27
27Religion 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.
Giving to others and not becoming wordly is what God considers a true religion!
How are these two things connected? What does giving and not being wordly have in common?
When you are giving to someone else, who are you thinking about?
When you're involved in the world and thinking about wordly things who are you really thinking about?
God calls us to be outwardly focused and not self-centered!
How does it make you feel when you are giving or you help someone?
Can the way you give or the motives behind why you're giving be bad?
How and why?
Matthew 6:1-2
1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
God wants us to give with a pure heart. Not for public acknowledgement or for praise. We need to give out of love and that should be our only motivation.
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