James 2:1-7 - Favoritism

Scripture: James 2:1-7

Summary: If you show favorites, do you really believe in Jesus Christ? Do you treat a person who is dressed nicely better than the person in dirty clothes? Hasn't God chosen the poor to be heirs of the kingdom?

Thought: How do we explain God's preference for the poor? How can a loving God, who loves each of us more than we can imagine, show preference for some? Perhaps it would help if we look at God like a parent with two children, one of them handicapped. The parent might spend more time or money on the handicapped child than on the other. This does not mean that the parent loves the handicapped child any more or any less. Only that this child needs more attention than the other. Maybe in a similar way, God takes more time for the poor than for the rich. Can we learn a lesson from the way that God invests more in the poor? Can we learn to treat the poor with as much love and deference as we treat the rich? Can we overcome out tendency to 'play favorites,' not only toward the rich but toward those who look and act like us?

Prayer: Help me to act more like a child of God, treating all that I encounter with the love and respect that they deserve as fellow children of God. Amen.