Treat Everyone the Same:

I am continuing on with my book of James.  I love the book of James because it provides practical advice for all believers, new and old.  One of the big things brought up in the beginning of the second chapter was the idea of favoritism and treating everyone the same, whether they are rich or poor, strong or weak, small or big, etc.  It is important because we were all made in the image of God and he wants to make sure we treat all believers and future believers with the same love and respect. 

James 2:1-4 says, “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If 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 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

These verses do a really good job describing how the Lord cares about all people and he expects all his disciples to care about all the peoples of the world.  I do believe this is why Jesus actually came in a way that someone who is usually considered to be important wouldn’t.  He came in a manger as a baby, as opposed to coming to earth as a king.  He was living in a small town, in a small family.  His family was respected for being kind and being Godly, for the most part, but they weren’t well renowned or considered to be the most important. I believe God chose to come to earth in this way to show how important it is to take care of those who are poor or who are considered to be the lower parts of society.

Then when Jesus spent time making friends, he did not start making friends with those who were considered important.  He even had some friends who were at one time controversial figures such as tax collectors.  Jesus would often be getting into arguments with those who were considered to be important or the religious leaders because of the friendships and the relationships he had made or how he acted towards others in society.  The Bible also often reminds us to make sure to take care of the widows and the orphans.  

I think there are definitely times when I am not necessarily the best at treating everyone the same.  It isn’t always when it comes to the rich, but rather is those who I think are annoying or a bit weird at times.  It is so easy to treat those who are a bit weird differently than those who we seem to believe act normal, or we think act in a way we deem highly.  Sometimes when there are a few individuals who we easily get annoyed by, we can definitely end up treating them differently than others.   

The challenge for the week is to spend some time thinking about you and your relationships.  Are you treating everyone the same? Are there certain individuals you do not like on certain principles such as where they work, how much money they make, what they wear, or where they live, etc.?  Is there a particular individual or a group of people who we don’t care about as much?

I do believe the best way to go about treating everyone the same is to spend time with the Holy Spirit and in prayer with God.  He is the one who best offers assistance and help when it comes to us treating everyone the same and spreading love around the way we should.  I pray we are all able to make waves treating everyone the same.  This may be one of the best ways we can showcase God’s love.  The Lord is the one who can help us show love to the ones who we struggle to love.  We are given so much extra help with the Holy Spirit.  We can learn to love anyone with his help and assistance.