The Forbidden Fruit of Favoritism

James 2:1-4

1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Haven’t we all tasted of this forbidden fruit of the spirit of Satan? Most of us, if not all, are guilty of this ungodly fruit. When we are out and see those that are beggars, homeless or even a lower class of income we react as if we are somehow better than they. Why? Is it because we have a home, a job or nice clean clothes on? Is this the teachings of our Lord and Savior that had compassion enough for the lost soul to go to the Cross? No, it’s not! This passage reminds us that we are not to show favoritism and the very next verse of this chapter shows us we see differently until we look through the eyes of Christ.

5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

And does this same verse remind us it is not for us to judge who is and who isn’t worthy of our compassion, if it is up to you to judge that then what was it that made you worthy as Christ showed compassion on you? I remember the WORD of GOD stating that not one is worthy.

Austin and I spent some time with some friends one day, as we went to a local fast food restaurant for lunch the mother and her teenage son began talking as we entered the door. We made our orders and found our table and the teen took some food off the tray and went outside and came back in. What I didn’t see the teen saw around the side of the building was a man in need. A bit later the teens’ father came in and told us how he helped the man before he came in. How is it that some of us would have seen the dirty maybe even stinky man outside the door and walked out of the way to another door as to not cross his path? I am sure there were many that day. There was an instance where a lady came out from the church on Sunday morning after the service to see a lady that appeared homeless. For some reason the lady was drawn to the other lady in the parking lot. The two women had a pleasant conversation, which the lady from the church probably doesn’t even remember what was said at the time. One part of the conversation the homeless looking lady commented on the other ladies jewelry. The lady instantly look off her earrings and necklace and gave it to her. How many women would have not thought twice about giving their jewelry away to someone on the street? Instead of saying “thank you” she put action to her compassion.

Jesus had compassion for everyone that littered the streets that others looked upon as filth. He did not have the kind of compassion that felt bad for you then walked away he showed us how to put action to our compassion. We have opportunities to see others with the compassionate eyes of Christ, not just to pray for them but to act as Jesus would act.

I witnessed this past Sunday a man stopped at a red light give “something” to a man standing in the median with a sign, that’s action. Do you remember how cold it can be on the coldest days of winter? You’re Christmas shopping and you almost run through the parking lot because you are so cold just going from your car to the entrance. As you enter the building you hear the “bell” in the background. I know a man that goes in the store purchases either coffee or cocoa for the Salvation Army Bell Ringer to help them warm up as they do a service for others. Again, that is putting our compassion to work, making a difference in someone else’s life when it really matters. It’s easy to love and have compassion for the ones we know and love it’s not that easy when it takes us out of our comfort zone. Jesus teaches us to be careful when we are too comfortable, the leaders and teachers of his time were comfortable especially in their knowledge when they should’ve been a bit more compassionate to the one who was known as the Son of God. When he leads us to do for someone it may make us a little uncomfortable and vulnerable but in the end it’s worth it. There are many scriptures that talk about compassion if it weren’t so important it wouldn’t be in the Bible. Some may think this title doesn’t fit the text. Think about it for just a moment, if we don’t show compassion when God leads us to, then aren’t we showing favoritism by disobedience to God and to those he feels compassion for? Have you ever said no, you wouldn’t help because the person was the wrong class, sex, or even color? If so, you’ve shown favoritism. Our prayer should be that when we have the opportunity we put our love of Christ to action and have the kind of compassion for others that Jesus did.

God put a song in my heart last night as I couldn’t sleep, I believe it fits.
“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days, all the days of my life”