James 2:1-5–Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation

Posted by Seth on Nov 20, 2009 in Bible Study, Daily Devotions |

James 2:1-5–Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering James 2:1-5 through which we are challenged against the temptation of favoritism.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

You get the sense from the way that James introduces Jesus here that he’s about to put the smack down on his readers: Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. That is someone you’re going to want to listen to, especially if you’ve already made the commitment to accept His authority, following His lead. The basic message in this text is that God’s people are not to show partiality or favoritism as they get together with one another; church organization isn’t to be based on social status. This is why the elders of a congregation can have outside jobs ranging from department store cashier to national corporation CEO, so long as they meet the biblical qualifications. This is why a healthy church doesn’t have assigned seats in its worship services or at potluck dinners.

Apparently though, James knew of Christians who were catering to the folks with the bling and and disassociating in some measure with the people who did all their shopping at Dollar General (one of my favorite stores, by the way). He uses an adjective to describe the people showing this kind of favoritism: evil. They were organizing the room and making judgments according to their evil thoughts. In reality, they were neither looking anything like their Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, nor treating people according to the criteria He used when interacting with different groups.

What James says next really serves to turn everything on its head and feed us the heavenly perspective that both they and we are in need of. He says something of the way that God goes about choosing whom He will honor: has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom… Time and time again, we see in the Scriptures that God isn’t all that impressed with how much money or prestige we have here on earth. In fact He seems to show special honor to those who are in the opposite category. And it’s not simply that God has a heart for the lowly, true as that is, but we see that He really is a God who doesn’t show any of the partiality that we’re so prone to exercise! Kingdom inheritance is ultimately based upon one thing: love for God according to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. This faith and love form the bookends of this brief passage and are to influence everything within. Do each of our life-books being written fit well within those bookends? Let us consider starting a new chapter today if the one previous included any partiality.

Share on Facebook