Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our Reading titled True Religion was written by Katira Patton.

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 classmates' death was witnessing my

fraternity friends live out what the Apostle James calls, genuine religion. 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.

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, including caring for those in need.

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.

Today's our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from James chapter 1, verses 19 through 27.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak,

and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that

God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept

the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

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