James 1:1-13
“Do not try to blend the genuine faith of our glorious Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, with your silly pretentiousness.” (MSG)
James is warning us not to show favoritism in the church. Favoritism divides our genuine faith. It occurs when silly pretentiousness mixes up with our genuine faith. Jesus, through His life, never showed such an attitude, so we can clearly say that it is not a godly attitude.
When God looks at us, He never sees people as rich or poor, and healthy or weak. But, He looks at the heart measuring the faith in Him. The healthy and the rich may not have faith as they shift their faith from God to materialistic things. Whereas, the poor or the weak rely on God completely as they have none else to support them.
If we are mesmerized by the money or any materialistic things, we are losing our identity as a true Christian. A true Christian should never lose his value for the passing fancies of this world.
Favoritism is done to get the acceptance from the man with the ‘fine clothes and the gold ring’. Many churches are destroyed as a result of this. Whose acceptance do we need? From God or man? You will get the returns immediately for manly appraisals, but, they won’t last eternally. If we are in a race to store riches in heaven, consider everyone as equal.
The contrast is that the people whom we ‘care’ the most are the ones who drag us to the courts, and they insult the wonderful name of Christ. Or in other words, we can say that they are against man and God, leading a selfish life.
Our perspective should be like that of Jesus. What would Jesus have done in my place? Think and amend our life. Treat everyone equally and run the race with steadiness. Remember, the poor are rich in faith.
Christ taught to “Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.” Matthew 22:39. If we are not obeying this, we are violating the command of the LORD. Jesus conveyed this verse as an answer to a person who asked Him about the ‘greatest commandment’. If we are disobeying this command, then we are sinners.
The God who commanded not to commit adultery had told not to kill anyone. The New Testament law is much harder than the Old Testament. God wants us to follow His commands completely, not as a part. For instance, if GOD has given us five commands to follow and we failed to abide one, then, in GOD’s eyes, we violated all the five.
The law of the LORD is the law of liberty. And by this law, GOD is going to judge us. The law of liberty doesn’t make us free from every boundary, but it gives us a proper discipline to follow. We must be cautious in speaking and doing things as we are under the authority of GOD.
So, if favoritism is what you choose over the love of GOD, you receive Always remember to show mercy to receive mercy.
