– Scripture:

                The Rule of Love

My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

                        James 2:1–4 MSG

 – Reflection:

We all tend toward partiality. Sometimes, with forethought, many times with no thought, we give or withhold based upon the characteristics of the people or persons. We can, therefore, find ourselves directing all our time and attention, our kindness and generosity, toward only those who live, look, sound, spend, and sin as we do. This plays out in many areas of our lives and, therefore, many areas of faith in service, giving, worship, and brotherhood. 

Where do we go from here?

The brother of our savior, James, told us in the scripture above that we should not use any separation tactics, but we still all base relationships on how the people(s) fit into our lives. Look around. Who are you spending time with? Whom are you serving? There should be people in your life who are nothing like you. Are there?

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank you for allowing us to make friends wherever we are in life and to be able to discern the blessing we are to all of your people. There have been times when I have fallen short in this area of friends; I know now that if a person needs me, I am to work with them in the capacity available at that very moment. It is my honor to love those around me as I love myself. In Jesus name we will continue to the work placed before us. Amen.