What is true religion? I love the way The Message puts it in James 1:27 when it says, "Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world."
When it uses the word "loveless," it made me think of single people as part of the group of people we should especially be ministering to today.
Here is the NIV version of this passage:
James 1:27 - "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."
The definition of widow according to Google is "a woman who has lost her spouse by death and has not remarried." Well, I feel like in the Bible times (maybe I'm wrong? I need to research this--) but I feel like people got married really early in life, like 14 or something sometimes?? So widows were probably the main group of people that didn't have a spouse, i.e. a specifically designated person to love them. But in our culture today, not only do we have widows (people who once had someone but don't anymore), but we have single people, those that have never had anyone. And it's hard to live life without a partner / lover, so I think this should be considered part of the "loveless" group, even though in theory we know they are loved by God and may have family and friends. But that is our calling as the family and friends - to reach out to them and show them God's love. We don't want people to just "know God loves them;" that's just a belief. We want to SHOW them God's love by actually loving them. God works through people in tangible ways, and what an honor that he would use us!
So this is my prayer, that as I'm currently single, I'd really be filled with compassion for other singles and make sure I reach out to love them. And that even when I find someone (or that someone finds me), I will still remember the hardships of singleness and still be filled with compassion for those in that season, because sometimes it's a long season, and having friends and people in our lives that really care is so important! And of course I want to remember orphans and actual widows as well, but just right now it seems like the main "loveless" people around me are the unmarried.
