December 2

James 2

True Christian love will not discriminate against the poor.

INSIGHT

“Birds of a feather flock together.” Trite as that may sound, it’s one of the fundamental laws of social interaction. We are more at home with those who are like us than with those who are not. There is nothing wrong with this tendency. It is built-in and there is little value in denying it. But if that tendency prompts us to act unlovingly, the action is wrong. A tendency cannot be avoided; unloving actions can. James specifically warns us about discriminating against the poor, though it is also wrong to discriminate against anyone because of wealth, creed, race, age, or national origin. The royal law is to love your neighbor as yourself regardless of who the neighbor is.

PRAYER

Because the Lord loves us just as we are, we can praise Him that He does not discriminate against us:
All the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come into His courts…
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness (Psalm 96:5-8, 11).

Pause for praise and thanksgiving.

Now pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:
No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
(Hebrews 12:11)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:
He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known (Proverbs 10:9).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

• Greater insight into God’s holy Word
• The hungry around the world
• Whatever else is on your heart

Finally, offer this prayer to the Lord:
He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen
(1 Timothy 6:15-16)