Sunday 8 Dec 2013

Sunday Reading: James 2:1-13

Key Verse: James 2:9
but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Devotion:
It is hard not to show personal favouritism toward the people that you like the look of because we all like to be able to surround ourselves with things and people that look nice! If there is anything that God has shown me over the past decade it is that I need to look at people through new eyes just as He has given me a new heart for Him! If God looked at me as the sinner that I was, then I would be in big trouble because of all the things I got up to; but He looks at me in a different way because of what Christ has done for me and because of the decision I took to ask Him into my life.

When others come to us we have to do things in a similar way too. We have to set aside our favouritism that we have so that we can look into their hearts to see what they are really like on the inside. That is always going to be hard for us because we are not God and we cannot see them on the inside. But what we can do is to see what they are willing to do for Christ and be willing to accept them for that.

When Christ asked the disciples to follow Him, He was not asking people without sin to put the world aside and follow Him, He was asking sinners to put aside their old ways and follow Him for instruction in a new life. If Christ was willing to do that for others, then we should be willing as well. We may be the ones who get hurt because we trust others, but without that trust in the first place we will not find out what they are really like.

If we turn our backs on people just because we don’t like the clothes they wear or because we don’t care for their situation or we don’t care for their friends, then we are turning our backs on the people that Christ has brought into our lives. We have a choice as to whether we get caught up in what other people do, but we also have a choice as to whether we reach out to others in Christ’s love or not as well. I stand and reach out to people around me now. I know some people get upset with me for doing that but I do it in Christ’s name and I try to do it with an open heart. Will you?

Points to Ponder:
Who do you bring into your life?

Are you willing to accept who Christ brings into your life?