"Avoiding Favoritism"
By Zach Wood
James 2:1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.
We are studying the book of James in our small group bible study each week. One of the things I really admire about James is that he is direct, blunt and to the point. He does not beat around the bush at all. He gets right to the nitty gritty of things. He does not sugar coat what he is trying to say about living our lives for Jesus Christ. He says what he means and means what he says. He is serious about how we need to live our lives for Christ and be the witness we are called to be.
What amazes me about this verse is how blunt James is about showing favoritism. Yes, he goes on in the next several verses talking about favoritism. But he starts off this section by coming right out and telling us not to show favoritism if we are believers in Jesus Christ. Why is he this blunt? I believe it is because showing favoritism is a sure way of excluding people who need to know God.
I remember when I was growing up in Grade School, Jr. High and High School, how awful it felt to be excluded from the cool crowd. However, I often found myself with a few friends doing the exact same thing to other people who seemed different. I was one of the nerds who was not really cool at all, but I did have a small core group of friends. When we were together, I did purposely exclude people and showed favoritism. I did not want to be friendly with those people who were different. That did not make sense because I desired to be noticed by the cool crowd and was showed favoritism, but then did the exact same thing to other people.
In the eyes of Jesus Christ, it does not matter one bit how anyone looks or acts. We are called, as believers in Christ, to share God's Love with everyone. We are not to exclude anyone. This is a very hard pill for many of us to "swallow". It is hard to show love to some people, but we must remember how much we desire for people to show attention to us when we are neglected and have been neglected.
I would encourage all of us to seriously consider how we show favoritism to people. Whether it be in our family gatherings, at work or at church. This can especially happen at church when we see someone new we really do not feel like coming in contact with for whatever reason. It just happens. Awful to think it would happen where people should be able to come and be welcomed with complete open arms. When we show this favoritism, it hurts our witness and we inhibit what God wants to do through us to show them God's love.
I pray each of us considers this and that we pay more attention to the times when we are showing favoritism instead of opening our arms to those in need who are different from us and we usually exclude.
By Zach Wood
James 2:1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.
We are studying the book of James in our small group bible study each week. One of the things I really admire about James is that he is direct, blunt and to the point. He does not beat around the bush at all. He gets right to the nitty gritty of things. He does not sugar coat what he is trying to say about living our lives for Jesus Christ. He says what he means and means what he says. He is serious about how we need to live our lives for Christ and be the witness we are called to be.
What amazes me about this verse is how blunt James is about showing favoritism. Yes, he goes on in the next several verses talking about favoritism. But he starts off this section by coming right out and telling us not to show favoritism if we are believers in Jesus Christ. Why is he this blunt? I believe it is because showing favoritism is a sure way of excluding people who need to know God.
I remember when I was growing up in Grade School, Jr. High and High School, how awful it felt to be excluded from the cool crowd. However, I often found myself with a few friends doing the exact same thing to other people who seemed different. I was one of the nerds who was not really cool at all, but I did have a small core group of friends. When we were together, I did purposely exclude people and showed favoritism. I did not want to be friendly with those people who were different. That did not make sense because I desired to be noticed by the cool crowd and was showed favoritism, but then did the exact same thing to other people.
In the eyes of Jesus Christ, it does not matter one bit how anyone looks or acts. We are called, as believers in Christ, to share God's Love with everyone. We are not to exclude anyone. This is a very hard pill for many of us to "swallow". It is hard to show love to some people, but we must remember how much we desire for people to show attention to us when we are neglected and have been neglected.
I would encourage all of us to seriously consider how we show favoritism to people. Whether it be in our family gatherings, at work or at church. This can especially happen at church when we see someone new we really do not feel like coming in contact with for whatever reason. It just happens. Awful to think it would happen where people should be able to come and be welcomed with complete open arms. When we show this favoritism, it hurts our witness and we inhibit what God wants to do through us to show them God's love.
I pray each of us considers this and that we pay more attention to the times when we are showing favoritism instead of opening our arms to those in need who are different from us and we usually exclude.
