James 2: 1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “You shall not murder.”[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
One of the things that I love about my relationship is that I am constantly challenged to grow closer to God. The discussions we have challenge me not only to reflect on the wonders of God, but on the ways in my life in which I can improve. My boyfriend always cheers for the underdog- I am the perfectionist. God has used some recent discussions we have had(and the hard-hitting book of James) to really convict me in one area of my life- judging others.
My students always joke that they are my favorite, and I always tell them that the mark of a good teacher is the ability to make every student feel like my favorite student. While I’m half-joking (I can’t say I necessarily have a “favorite”) I started to realize how this principle needs to be applied to life in general. How much better would this world be if we treated every person as our favorite and had people respond to us in the same manner.? How would life be different if we gave everyone our best attention, our deepest respect, and our sincerest gratitude? I’m not advocating giving so much of ourselves that there is nothing left (I know what it can be like to be overwhelmed), but I am suggesting that we should love others as if they were the only person to be loved. After all, the amazing grace of God is that He loves each of us as His own. We are all His “favorite.” And while we might moan and groan when someone else seems to get the blessing we deserved, the Bible promises that God loves each of us so much that He sent His son to die for us. For you. For me.
As I was reading the book of James throughout the past week, the above passage on favoritism got me. I began to question how often I truly showed this type of favoritism. And while I may not necessarily judge those who are “poor” by the world’s standards, I know that I have shown preferential treatment to those who “appeal” to me more. The Bible calls this sin. What I might think is “surrounding myself with those who are like me,” is viewed as lawbreaking. That little comment I made about someone’s outfit, their hair, their mannerisms, etc. are viewed as all of the other sins. If I am not loving EVERY neighbor as myself, I fail to meet the mark. I could list a group of people who I do show love to and try to justify it to God, but would I want Him to return to me a list with my name on it of the people He chose not love? I could only imagine what it would be like if God said, “Well, Bobbie, I chose to love a lot of people, but I like them more than you. Sorry. They were “richer” than you.” Wow. If God wouldn't do that to me, how could I possible do that to others?
This is my lesson- to love others with the love of Christ so much that they believe they are not only your favorite, but God’s favorite too.
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