Broken and Blameless

Last night, to wind down my week with Texas, I had to think of a 'topic' for the debrief we were going to have. I was starting to worry. I was afraid that I didn't have a good way to wind down our week in a way that would challenge them as they went home. It became even more complicated when I realized I wanted to challenge them, yet still let them see how proud I was of the work they'd done.

I started thinking about James 1:27. This is not an unfamiliar verse to me. My family, and my church have talked about this verse while I was growing up. It states, '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.'

As I was thinking through this verse, I was also thinking about how I would define my group. I loved the Texas group. I got along with them exceptionally well. Our personalities matched perfectly, and I looked forward to working with them every day. Because we got along so well, I also got to know them better than the other groups I have had. The more I got to know them, the more I saw how broken they really were.

Each person that I spoke with, and got to know better showed me a side of brokenness that they held inside. Whether it was a physical brokenness, like 4 concussions, poor choices made in dating relationships, or issues of pride, this group made themselves vulnerable to me.

As I was taking the time to reflect on my group, I had two realizations. I realized that I fit right in. I have my mistakes, my history and my own issues that I struggle with. I also realized that James 1:27 was the perfect was for us to close our week together.

What James 1:27 showed Texas and I, is that despite all of our brokenness (and trust me, there was a lot), when we were working together last week, we were pure and blameless.

This verse doesn't promise that when we serve others we are cleansed of our own personal histories, mistakes and issues. It doesn't say that accepting Jesus as my savior means that I start out with a clean slate. But, it DOES mean that when I bring my broken self to God and say, 'put me to work,' as long as I am working in the name of God and practicing THAT sort of religion, I am pure and faultless.

As I was sharing this with the group, it was so cool to come to this understanding together. We realized that last week, as we devoted each day to looking after the orphans and the widows, and doing our best to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world, we spent a week as broken people, who at the same time, were pure and faultless. That's an irony that only our God could allow to happen :)