Most every day we have received snow, it seems for weeks now. It makes the trees and landscape beautiful. It makes the roads and parking lots a disaster. Snow turns into a muddy mush where trampled by a number of cars. This mush attaches itself to your vehicle. Most of the cars in this area look like they have been driven off road through mud.
If we are not careful, we can allow ungodly stains to attach themselves to us as we roll through life, much like the muddy mush attaches to our cars. Celebrities and the rich can unduly influence our desires as we admire their public lives and private indulgences. Marketing can cause us to desire material things. Friends can lead us into unhealthy lifestyles.
James 1:27 warns us to remain unstained by the world; “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. ” As James mentions, one way to keep unstained from the world is to help others who are less fortunate than we are. Also, we need to periodically evaluate the things which we allow to influence us.
Reluctant Retiree 