Miss Perfect and a Slab of Ribs
In my little corner of the world, about 400 women and I have just completed the journey of Miss Perfect: Discovering God’s Purpose without the Pressure. After each semester that I teach it, I always walk away both overjoyed and yet wondering if I could’ve done more or prayed more. That Miss Perfect in me tries desperately to revive herself and make me think that doing something more would've made it better.In truth, it’s God’s Word that changes people and I did the best I could to share my heart with the women who joined me on this sweet, but convicting, journey. As it would be, immediately after teaching my last live session, I hopped in the car and began a 6-hour drive. I decided this would be the perfect time to continue working on my over-extended journey of memorizing James.Now, before you get too crazy and let Miss Perfect resurrect herself in you, let's just live in reality for a minute. I stink at memorizing Scripture. I’m frequently convicted of this. I have some success… and then I have some failure. I started the book of James months ago and I’m still on chapter 1, if that gives you any clue!But as my backside was becoming numb during my drive, and my foot was cramping up, I made it to the last verse of chapter 1 and thought it was a perfect bow to the entire journey of Miss Perfect.
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."James 1:27
Whether you were part of the 400 or not, there’s something beautiful and relevant to every woman's life in this verse. In one of our final weeks together, we talked about mission. Mission isn’t a program. Mission isn’t the thing that the really religious people do. Mission is Christianity and Christianity is mission. They’re inseparable. Mission is looking at our everyday lives through God’s eyes and realizing that God has put us where we are for a reason. It’s caring for those around us in need.We’re called to love those in need. The widows and orphans, yes; but maybe relevant to the 21st century are the single moms of our culture as well. As followers of Christ, we’re called to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need.[bctt tweet="As followers of Christ, we’re called to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need."]The second component of pure religion from our verse in James is that we would keep ourselves unstained from this world. What a visual picture! In my mind, I see a plate of wet ribs and a white button-down shirt. Everything about the world is so tasty, but keeping that shirt white while partaking of those wet ribs is impossible. However, the Rendezvous restaurant is right next door where we can have the dry ribs… just as tasty, but oh so much easier to keep us unstained!So many times, we look at the temptations of the world and think we must partake… when in reality, we need to see that they’ll leave a stain. Not a pesky stain for the dry cleaner to contend with, though. It’s a stain that cuts much deeper and is particularly stubborn to ever get out. All the while, there’s God’s provision that satisfies and doesn’t stain.My Miss Perfect friends, I pray that you’ll love well and continue under God’s umbrella of protection so you can keep making a difference for the Kingdom while walking unstained in this very world He has chosen to use you in.