Why bother visiting a nursing home?

There are lots of books and blogs that talk about how to grow your church quickly. I don't think I've seen any of them recommend visiting people in nursing homes. It just doesn't sound like the way to quickly add people to our church, does it?

But that's okay, becuase there is a more important book that DOES recommend visiting people in nursing homes. It's not a book like "How Not to Grow Your Church." It's actually...the Bible. Have you ever read what it says right at the end of the first chapter of James? Verse 26 points out one extreme - worthless religion, which is when someone "thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart."

That's worthless religion. That's as worthless as it gets, as far as religious acts go. So what's the other end of the spectrum? What is the best you could do? The answer might surprise you. James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep onself unstained by the world."

What is the purest form of religion in God's eyes? Visiting orhpans and widows. There are lots of good things that we should all be doing - Bible reading and study, prayer, encouraging other Christians, sharing the Gospel with non-Christians, giving to help the poor, etc. And we shouldn't neglect these things and only visit orphans and widows.

But, for some reason, visiting orphans and widows is an especially pure religious act - at least from God's perspective (what other perspective matters). Maybe it's because visiting orphans and widows is something that we can't get anything material out of. We don't walk away with more money. Maybe it's because visiting orphans and widows shows that we value people simply for being people made in the image of God (therefore valuing the image of God!) even if they can't do anything for us.

God doesn't have James tell us WHY visiting orphans and widows is pure and undefiled religion. But He does have him tell us THAT this is the case. So...do we have to understand WHY in order to do what God teaches us? Or do we just have to understand WHAT he teaches us?