Image from on sizzle.com
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’, have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:1-17)
Good day dear Friend! I trust Labor Day found you resting and blessed; now you're ready (and willing!) to do what is expected? I pray so! May the blessings of God's rich word speak to your heart and spirit in ways that renew and refresh you is my prayer.
When I was a boy, I could pray 10¢ to enter the only air-conditioned building I knew, and that was the Texas Theater and spend all Saturday watching the same movie over and over again. Usually, my friend and I would only watch it once as we didn't have all-day permission for the movies. And that was where the expression, "This is where I came in" came from; you would sometimes come in at the middle of the movie, watch it til the end, wait for it to start over and then you'd see what you missed. When the scene where you came in started again, we would say, "This is where I came in," and leave. Seating in the Texas was not a problem for us - wherever there was room. Seating in a church is another matter, especially when one visits a new church. And by new, I mean new to us, for every church will have its long-established members who "own" certain seats or pews. A welcoming church will have ushers that will indeed find you a seat, hand you a worship bulletin and leave you to meet your neighbors if they're so inclined. But imagine being seated according to the way you look or the way you are dressed? In James' time that was a problem. As the early church was getting started, the members of the church loved to receive well-dressed people. People in rags would not be so warmly welcomed. Ushers or greeters might, as the above passage say, ask you to stand in a certain place or to sit at their feet. James is calling for an end to that practice in his time, and his words would still find a place in which they need to be heard. James called it the "royal law" meaning the teachings from the Hebrew Bible and from Jesus Himself; "Love your neighbor as yourself." To show partiality and to exclude people is against God's law and is a sin. And then he goes into further explanation of that law and sin.
The graphic I chose for today's devotional quotes The Message version of this text: "God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense!" As the sign shows, "Focus on not only speaking the word of God, but also patterning your life after His Son, Jesus!" Indeed. We do best when we not only quote scripture, but live it. Our prayer should be that we not only believe the gospel, but receive it and live it; we may well be the only sermon someone hears that day; and we serve the Lord if that 'sermon' is a good one! We should show partiality to everyone! Welcome all, love all, serve all. This is the Gospel, the good news, in action.
PRAYER: Loving God, bless my life to be blessing to all people. Remover any biases or prejudice I may hold. Let me love all, welcome all, and serve all. I want to be the gospel in action for all people. And this I pray in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Brush up on your daily "sermon!" (A life well lived)
Eradio Valverde
