“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?”
showing what we value by who we value
In verse one, the word “partiality” is describing discrimination based on external things; physical appearance, social/economic status, ethnic background. God however, never judges on these criteria.[1] If we then, are showing favoritism based on externals, we are behaving in opposition to God’s heart.
Jesus came to break down barriers of division: between God and man and between man and man. He is all about relationship—not division. I suspect a close look at the way we show favoritism will reveal something about our priorities. We may be all about having more fun, achieving greater success, learning more facts, getting more money, or having more friends. Unfortunately, if that is our motivation in relationships it is a course set against the gracious kindness of God because it excludes anyone who does not meet our criteria in terms of helping us accomplish what we want. This would be worldly standards at work!
Think about times in your life when you have been subject to favoritism. Have you ever seen it produce something good? In my experience, it seems to leave some people puffed with pride and others downcast and resentful. If someone were to ask me “Would you like to give some people an illusion of self-importance, and give some others an illusion of unimportance?” Of course I would answer in the negative. But the telling thing will be my actions.
In chapter 1 James addressed the “double-minded man” [one who has conflicting loyalties], and in a subtle way it is now revisited. If we have faith in Jesus and we are in a position to share it, but we become selective about whom we will relate to, we become “judges with evil thoughts”. The example here illustrates paying attention to someone on the basis of external things. Is this what Jesus did? Of course not! If we call ourselves Christian, supposedly we are in the process of becoming more like Christ, and should therefore be operating on His standards and values, not the standards and values of the world. Do you value what pleases God or what pleases the world?
Read and Pray: Lev.19:15-18, Deut.10:17-21, 2 Cor. 5:18-21, Psalm 8
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