"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors."
James 2:5-9
The whole avoiding respect of persons, or in other words treating one person well because he is rich and dressed nicely and treating another person badly because he is poor and not dressed nicely (James 2:1-4), is a tough one. It seems like we have a lot of ways to discriminate, and a lot of categories we place things in, sometimes unconsciously.
We're also way too quick to get on the other side of this one and think about the ways that we have been treated as "less than" for some reason, and not the ways that we do that to others. I think that (like all of the gospel), we should first apply the rules to ourselves, and probably (since it is the way God generally works), as we improve in how we treat others, we are likely to see our own situation improve as well.
Today, let's really think about the way that we are treating others, and make sure we put in an extra effort to love and to be kind to people that we don't naturally feel affection for. God will bless us with an increased capacity to love as we exercise our faith to love despite our weakness and bias. Let's love our neighbors, and build up God's kingdom, as well as a nicer world for all of us to live in. :)
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors."
James 2:5-9
The whole avoiding respect of persons, or in other words treating one person well because he is rich and dressed nicely and treating another person badly because he is poor and not dressed nicely (James 2:1-4), is a tough one. It seems like we have a lot of ways to discriminate, and a lot of categories we place things in, sometimes unconsciously.
We're also way too quick to get on the other side of this one and think about the ways that we have been treated as "less than" for some reason, and not the ways that we do that to others. I think that (like all of the gospel), we should first apply the rules to ourselves, and probably (since it is the way God generally works), as we improve in how we treat others, we are likely to see our own situation improve as well.
Today, let's really think about the way that we are treating others, and make sure we put in an extra effort to love and to be kind to people that we don't naturally feel affection for. God will bless us with an increased capacity to love as we exercise our faith to love despite our weakness and bias. Let's love our neighbors, and build up God's kingdom, as well as a nicer world for all of us to live in. :)
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