The Devotional - JAS006

The Devotional

Comment:

This is one of those things that causes me a lot of tribulation and I do not think that I am alone in this. Body language and eye contact often speak louder than words; if in a conversation with several people (at least three) and you make a comment to the group and one answers. So far so good, yet when that person answers and directly speaks to others avoiding meaningful contact with you, I find this demeaning. It is as though the others exist and you don’t, at least this is the impression I get when another is demonstrating partiality or favor to others, rather than being equally interested in the group as a whole. This is annoying in secular groups because you can see and determine the pecking order develop. But being isolated from participation in and among the brothers and sisters of the family of God can be seen as purposely ignorant and hurtful. The apostle James will have something to say about this in chapter two of his epistle, and don’t forget this epistle is scripture in the New Testament Church.

Challenge: James 2:1-13

Do we think daily of our faith in Christ? Or do we just truck along in our daily routines with the LORD Jesus Christ in the back seat, just along for the ride so to speak. I think that more often than we would like to admit it, we do not allow the LORD Jesus to be our covering of Righteousness. Thus when we are faced with the trials and temptations of the day, we react in ungodly manners. This reaction may be intentional or it may not, but in trials and temptations if we are not practicing righteousness in the LORD who is our righteousness we are simply ungodly children.

In the church we are especially critical to react when new people show up. We know the passage of scripture we are looking at this morning so in order to be prim and proper we saddle up to the stranger an become overly friendly. If the newcomer is a child of God they will pick up on this phony behavior very quickly and if that person is not a child of God, they will consider this initial meeting as weird.

The pendulum of favoritism is not positioned correctly right from the onset, then when identity is established, we can see the swing as the visiting saint is patted on the back and an excuse to leave is given and off we go to find another new person. The partiality of who one is or who one might be is as relevant in our congregations today as it was in the days of the early church the only difference is that there is difference!

We dishonor one another in most all of our assemblies and truly we know that this should not be, but bad habits do not break easily. Now the apostle uses the rich and the poor to illustrate partiality. Yet today we see this dishonoring of one another in other ways, clothing and apparel are not viewed according to the pocket book these day in the church, but style is. In some churches clothing and dress is mandated from the pulpit.

So partiality remains a stumbling block in most churches in one form or another, such partiality is sin and offends the whole assembly. Those who judge others for their appearance or position cause the whole assembly to smell unwashed from the filth of the world. If we stumble on one point of the law of liberty in Christ we are not the pleasing aroma that the church should be and the whole assembly is guilty in the eyes of the casual observer. The apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:1 and 2 identifies the main problem.

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in (agape) love (not gushy or phony), as Christ also has loved us and give Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma”. Also see 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 as we are not defeated in Christ, we are triumphant and we need to show the world (visitors) that in Christ is VICTORY.