Morning Musings-Playing Favorites

   Morning Musings with the boys at breakfast...




Human nature loves to inculcate favorites.  Like the saying that goes, "Birds of a feather flock together," we do 'collect' those persons about us who can 'click' with us. 

Of course there is nothing wrong with gathering good friends into our circle.  We really should.  What we do not want to be is,  "misled:  bad company corrupts good character"  (1 Corinthians 15:33 [NIV]).

Often we see that groups within a church setting are so content with themselves and with whomever are in their click that they don't seem to need to 'admit' anyone else to the club.

What about newcomers?  How will they blend in and operate as part of the body of Christ if they are not acknowledged and welcomed?  How will their gifts, talents and skills benefit the whole for building others up in Christ towards maturity?  I ask you, "HOW!?"

This is part of the favoritism factor that James wrote about in James 2:1-12.  How are the church members going to be of help to that person?  They need to put their religion to work as we saw from James 1:26-27.  Is the person a widow?  Because the person is poor, are you going to gossip about them and look down on them?  Or because they are of a different ethnic group than the majority in the congregation, will you look down on them or give them seating preference?

Rich or poor; old or young; Ph.D holder or uneducated; of one ethic background or another; the pastor's family or church leaders or common congregation member; or of 100 other categories---you name it---no matter what, James is emphatic, "Don't show favoritism" (James 2:1).

Faith is a key word here.  James tell us "God [chose] 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." (2:5).  If we love materialism or a certain ethnic group above another; regard education or put the church leader  on a pedestal then that is making those qualifications a god.  Keep God as our God and embrace each one who enters your place of gathering, equally.

If we can recall what Jesus told the inquiring man in Matthew 22:36-40, the two greatest commandments are to:  

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Great Commandment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_CommandmentWikipedia

Do you love yourself?  Yes.  Ok.  So how would you wish to be treated if you were in the other person's shoes?  Then "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Luke 6:31).  That's a golden rule of thumb.  It's not how they treat us BUT how we treat them.  Favoritism is a sin; instead, be merciful.  "Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:12). 

There's a story that you may have heard before of the big church where a new pastor was scheduled to show up for the first time that particular Sunday service.  But where was he?!

The person who did show up was a shabbily dressed, dirty, smelly tramp with unkempt hair.  He stood out at the entrance for a while watching the congregation file in but it got too cold out.

Eventually Mr. Tramp shuffled inside trying to shake people's hand if he could make eye contact.  Most of the folks shied away from him and went and sat in their seats of habit.  Before the ushers could do much about it he shuffled his way right down center aisle and plunked himself in the front row pew.  Ha, ha, ha!

Throughout the song time he tried to share the song book with a brother up there, or he'd look over his shoulder at those directly behind him, or swivel about in his seat and look over at the other folks at the other side of the room, grinning as he did.   He didn't get much response or welcoming smiles.

Sermon time came and still no new pastor showed up. The elders formed and impromptu confab and were busily whispering and conferring as to what they should do.  Well, well, well, guess what did happen?

Wouldn't you know it, that pesky Mr. Tramp tramped right up to the pulpit in front of the gasping congregation.  He began to remove his tramp clothes and unkempt hair wig to reveal his 'pastor clothes and self'.  Imagine the shock!   Sermon # 1 preached without a single spoken word. *1

Kinda funny yet rather sad.  This is what James was talking about.  "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom..." (vs 12).

Let us overcome our prejudices and foibles and welcome newcomers, etc, no matter what they look like or their station in life.  God loves them, so should we.  Open your click and let them 'click' and stick with you.

Here's a saying I got from the book God's Little Devotional Book for Students which goes as follows:

 "Treat everybody alike, no matter from what station in life he comes....really great men and women are those who are natural, frank, and honest with everyone with whom they come into contact." *2

This is all part of that Christian faith in action.  This is where we need to "put our $$ where our mouth is" so to speak.  The proof is in the pudding.  Faith and our actions working together, "making our faith complete by what we do" (vs 22).  

Read James 2:14-25.  Whereas the book of Romans shows us that we are justified by faith in God's sight; the book of James shows everyone else our faith is justified by our good deeds. 

Faith plus our good deeds work hand in hand, aiding and abetting each other.  However I want to emphasize that good deeds alone DO  NOT justify us (save us) in God's sight.  This is step number one.  Step number two is the doing of the good deeds.  A person might be an extremely good living person with an exemplary moral life and one full of charity to others, yet not have faith in God nor have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord.  This would be tragic.

Yet our good deeds are a firstfruit, a natural outpouring of our faith and deep gratitude to our Savior Jesus Christ and to God, His (& our), Father as a thank you to Him; as a kind of symbol of our faith in Him.  As our faith increases through the process mentioned in James 1:2-8, let our good deeds increase in commensurate balance.

A lady named Anne Bradstreet once wrote,

 "Many can speak well, but few do well.  We are better scholars in the theory than in the practice part, but" (& here is the best bit) "he is a true Christian that is proficient in both."  

What a balance and harmony a person "in Christ" can truly strive for in giving praise, honor, glory and sacrifice to the One who did so much for us.  Hallelujah!  Thank-you, Jesus!

Balance & Harmony--Faith & Good Deeds in Balance

 *1  Note:  The true facts of the tramp story may not be fully as I stated.  I have ad libbed  from the story I heard of the story.

*2  God's Little Devotional Book for Students, published by Honor Books, Inc., C 2003, Colorado Springs, CO 89018

                                                               ~ERC  2016~