EVENING DAILY BREAD SHARE OF THE DAY
June 20
True Religion
Bible in a Year:
Esther 1–2
Acts 5:1–21
Religion that God our Father accepts . . . is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.
James 1:27
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Today's Scripture & Insight:
The summer after my sophomore year of college, a classmate died unexpectedly. I’d seen him just a few days prior and he looked fine. My classmates and I were young and in what we thought was the prime of our lives, having just become sisters and brothers after pledging our respective sorority and fraternity.
But what I remember most about my classmate’s death was witnessing my fraternity friends live out what the apostle James calls “genuine religion” (James 1:27 nlt). The men in the fraternity became like brothers to the sister of the deceased. They attended her wedding and traveled to her baby shower years after her brother’s death. One even gifted her a cell phone to contact him whenever she needed to call.
True religion, according to James, is “to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (v. 27). While my friend’s sister wasn’t an orphan in the literal sense, she no longer had her brother. Her new “brothers” filled in the gap.
And that’s what all of us who want to practice true and pure life in Jesus can do—“do what [Scripture] says” (v. 22), including caring for those in need (2:14–17). Our faith in Him prompts us to look after the vulnerable as we keep ourselves from the negative influences of the world as He helps us. After all, it’s the true religion God accepts.
By: Katara Patton
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk SGT Charlie Lee]
Sgt (Join to see) PV2 Larry Sellnow
SPC Gary C. SPC (Join to see) Amn Dale Preisach SGT Ruben Lozada 1SG Patrick Burke
PO2 Marco Monsalve Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Kim Patterson SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SFC Ralph E Kelley PV2 Scott M.
PO1 Lyndon Thomas CPT Richard Trione