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 (James 2:3-4)?
Our Father in heaven, Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path (Psalm 119:105).You light the way for us to walk in wisdom, in integrity, and in love.
Lord, how easily duped we are, how easily beguiled by appearances and exterior trappings! How prone we are to "discriminate among ourselves and become judges with evil thoughts"(James 2:4)!
We see how You instructed even the prophet Samuel when his idea of "kingly readiness" was influenced by appearance, “Do not consider his appearance or his height... The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Help us to be concerned with "heart issues" and with genuine worth. Help us to value people because they are eternal souls, not because of material worth, or social status, or worldly esteem.
You show us many places in Scripture—as in this psalm from the sons of Korah—that the transient things of earth by which we live, and strive, and judge, have no lasting value: No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them.... Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them (Psalm 49: 7, 16-17).
Search us, O God, and show us the careless or unconscious ways we become drawn into discriminating thoughts and behaviors. The apostle James discusses our susceptibility even in our times of fellowship. He warns us that believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism (James 2:1).
Guard our hearts and minds from the subtle patterns and influences of this world. Help us to “‘love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] mind (Matthew 22:37), so that we do not join in with the idolatrous social customs around us.
Train our minds to have no other gods before [You] (Exodus 20:3), so that we would not be lured into esteeming status, position, celebrity, fame, glamor, and glitter. Help us to teach our children in this regard, and to set an example for them.
Keep us from the danger of worshiping others as gods, or accepting worship from others. Keep those in ministry grounded in their roles as fellow-servants, having the attitude of the apostle Peter, "I am only a man myself" (Acts 10:26), and of the apostles Paul and Barnabas, "We too are only human, like you" (Acts 14:15).
Help us to ‘love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]' (Matthew 22:37), so that we do not disparage or disdain others, forgetting they are souls for whom Christ died (Romans 14:15, 1 Corinthians 8:11). Give us a keen awareness of this as we interact with others daily—grocery store workers, telephone representatives, neighbors, service providers, bosses, co-workers.
Thank You O God that [Your] love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Romans 5:5). Help us to share this love, and the hope of God with all You put in our path, whether they happen to be kings or princes, friends or strangers, workers or jet-setters, financial giants, or the least of these.
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