Let Me Not Wander

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. (NIV) This verse is a great stand alone kind of verse. All by itself, it is saying that you are doing well (or right) if you are loving your neighbor as yourself. But this verse is not stand alone. In the NIV it leaves out an essential word at the beginning of the verse. The NASV does a little bit better of a job on this one. If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well. Notice the word however . When it is left in, it is kind of like saying, "OK. You have heard the wrongs of favoritism. Let me show you what is opposite to favoritism..." In other words, you can't be loving your neighbor as yourself and showing favoritism. They stand in opposition to each other.

But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? (NIV) (Now, before I continue on with this discussion, I think that it might be important to do a little background here. Consider the commentary on James 2:2-4 , and also consider James 1: 9 , 10 , & 11 .) These two verses are very real-word-ish or maybe you could describe them as a reality check. It is almost like James is saying, "...umm guys. Ignoring the wrongness of discrimination based on the outward for just a moment... You are insulting the poor people, when it is the rich people who are doing all of this stuff. Your logic doesn't even make sense!" Sometimes it can be very useful to take a step back and really look at things. Really look at the results of our actions or really look at the logic of our reasoning. God's word is true, but gues...

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen 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? (NIV) God has not discriminated on the basis of possessions. There are those people who in the eyes of the world are considered to be poor. They are not the types of people that the world would say had "arrived". Yet, has not God chosen them to be rich in faith? Are not some of the people who we might turn away from potentially kingdom inheritors... maybe even ahead of us?!? Maybe for you it isn't riches. Maybe it is skin color. Maybe it is nationality. Maybe it is their clothing choices. Maybe it is their family. Maybe it is their language. Maybe it is the nation that they currently live in or they are from. All of these things are superficial. God chooses all types to inherit His kingdom.

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby 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? (NIV) I have tried to stick with a verse a day, but every once in a while there are a few verses that it would confuse the matter to separate them. The thought would become muddled by trying to discuss the one thought over a few separate days. So, I am keeping these verses together. In James' day, there was a discrimination going on between the rich and the poor. Rich people would many times make assumptions about poor people based on their outward appearance. If they were poor, they were probably not very spiritual. The reason for this was because there was the inco...

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. (NIV) Simple enough, right? There are some people who would not say that favoritism is a struggle at all. There are others who would say that they struggle with it all of the time. The need here is to be honest with yourself. Do you show favoritism? Strong's Concordance defines this word in this way: he fault of one who when called on to give judgment has respect of the outward circumstances of man and not to their intrinsic merits, and so prefers, as the more worthy, one who is rich, high born, or powerful, to another who does not have these qualities I would also like to point out that the verse states, "...as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ..." Favoritism and true faith don't go together. The New American Standard puts it this way: "...do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism." In the original greek, that i...

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (ESV) This is an excellent way to end this Psalm. "Favor" could also be translated as "beauty" or "pleasantness". This is what we desire. We want those beautiful qualities of the Lord to be upon us. We desire for our own character to match that beautiful character of God. And we also desire to have what we do be firm and solidified, but only if what we do is matching His beauty.

Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. (ESV) In the previous few verses the Psalmist is speaking of getting the heart right, getting the perspective right. After he says it though, he still calls out to God to "see" God. He still wants to see what God is doing while he is here on this earth. He knows his days are short, he knows he needs to be satisfied in God and find his joy in God, but he still has the desire to "see" God, and he doesn't want to wait until he is dead. He also wants his children (and the children of all who are seeking after God) to "see" God now. So he cries out for God to allow His work to be shown, for His power to be shown.