Favored
by Randy Chambers, 2014-09-02
James 2:8-9, NIV: If you really keep the royal law found in
Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right. But if you
show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
In James 2, James is surprisingly addressing the church when he discusses preferential
treatment that was taking place. We may consider church to be the one place that anyone
should be able to be loved, accepted, and received. But could it be that not all are
accepted? Maybe they dress differently, talk or act differently. Maybe it's someone whose
personality rubs hard against the comfort levels of others. It may be someone with a heart
of gold, but they smell bad, or are ugly or. . . you fill in the blank. Jesus said,
Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done [it] unto me" (Mt.25:40). Our treatment of others, good or bad, caries
weight--and we should bear in mind that Christ takes our treatment of others very
personally.
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