James 2: My friends, as believers
in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, you must never treat people in
different ways according to their outward appearance. 2 Suppose a rich man wearing a
gold ring and fine clothes comes to your meeting, and a poor man in ragged
clothes also comes. 3 If you show more respect to the
well-dressed man and say to him, “Have this best seat here,” but say to the
poor man, “Stand over there, or sit here on the floor by my feet,” 4 then you are guilty of
creating distinctions among yourselves and of making judgments based on evil
motives.
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Upset that I ran
into so many homeless people, I decided to do something about it. Instead of
giving money, I offered to buy a meal. I proceeded to “tell” the person the
Gospel, thinking I had done my job for the day.
- I assumed the person was going to use money for drugs and alcohol.
- I assumed the person needed to hear a message about CHRIST, when in reality this being could have been an angel that I was not aware of.
- I assumed “I” had a solution when I may have been contributing to the problem, namely lack of respect.
James attempts to
address favoritism based on the appearance of wealth. He may have experienced
the lack of favoritism based on his appearance. He knew that looking at the
outward appearance of people could cause people to make assumptions that are
untrue.
My Observations:
- GOD looks at the heart of humans and determines who is truly “good.”
- GOD sees how I treat people and knows if I treat others differently based on outward appearance.
- GOD loves when I treat everyone with respect and honor.
Treating one set of
people different than the next leads to battles. I mean, when I treat people
differently because of his or her appearance, I make wrong assumptions about
who they are and even worse, I ignore what GOD sees.
GOD loves people I
may not like. HE sees the inside and has a strong desire for all to be saved.
HE loves the poor and does not like when rich people are treated better than
them. HE provides opportunities for me to treat the poor the same as I treat
the rich, with HIS utmost respect. I am glad GOD is not prejudice and loves me
without wavering.
Challenge
- Why does the writer use rich and poor as the example?
- Have you ever treated someone better based than others because of his or her title, appearance or financial status?
- Will you treat everyone with the same utmost respect that GOD wants you to so many can hear HIS message of love today?
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