Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Don't Play Favorites (James 2:1-7)

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
(James 2:1-7, NASB)

In God’s eyes, everyone is equal. Gender. Age. Cultural background. Wealth. He doesn’t care about any of that. He just cares about the heart.

But us? Not so much.

We look at the outside. We admire the beautiful. The young. We want to be around those who are like us.

And we especially hold those with all the “stuff” in high esteem. For some reason, we think those with lots of money are somehow more important. We’d rather hang out with the rich and famous than spend time in the soup kitchen.

But think about it. Where do you often find the most faithful? In the palaces? No, you find them in the slums. Friends of mine who have had the privilege of going on short or long term missions to “third world” countries have told stories of the generosity of the “least of these.” And of their love for Jesus. They live with nothing, but they praise the name of their Lord and Savior.

These are the people we should hold in highest esteem. These are the people whose faith we should emulate.

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