James spoke of the word of God and our attitude toward it when he wrote, “For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.  (Jam 1:25-27). Religion is used here obviously in the meaning of devoutness, or as we commonly utilize the expression itself. The idiom “pure religion” means that which is authentic and heartfelt, or which is uninhibited by hypocricy (which is impossible to practice without the assistance of the Holy Spirit). There is no wisdom except the wisdom that comes from God.  This is the wisdom that James later said is “from above”:  “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, twithout partiality uand without hypocrisy.”  (Jas. 3:17, NKJV).  The wisdom that comes from God is the only true wisdom.  Since that is the case, we should be persuaded that God is the only one who can tell us what life is to be and what true religion is. Many people are interested in religion.  We are living in an age of religious pursuits.  Perhaps the cause for the many bogus religious belief structures in the world is because downcast people are easy targets for those who present their various doctrines and dogmas lead to meaningful living. All of this foolishness would stop tomorrow if everyone would realize where true happiness and joy are found (Jn. 10:10; Phil. 4:4). Only Christ can produce enduring joyfulness to the human heart. When people spend more effort trying to appear religious in the eyes of men than they do in really being religious, then there arises all sorts of problems, not the least of which is their utter rejection by God.  Hypocrisy is defined by Christ as the attitude that seeks to make people think we are holy when in fact we are making no real effort to be (see Matt. 6). We should remember that this is the purpose of looking into God’s law. God’s law is designed to show us what real religion is, and therefore it alone can tell us what will please God.  Bryan Dunaway