our biggest problems…

james here in the latter part of chapter one is saying that the blessing of the bible comes when we start living it….and here are the three ways in a nutshell to apply GOD’s word to your life and see the results:

* read it! – set a time and territory and select a translation.

* remember it! – reflect in what you’re reading and

* respond to it! – apply it, do something with what you’ve read and heard.

now james in chapter two changes direction.  your biggest problems and my biggest problems are people problems – getting along with other people.  someone said, “to dwell above with those you love, that will be glory.  but to dwell below with those we know, well, that’s another story.”  so we are going to see what james says about how to get along with people. 

james 2.1 (niv) says, my brothers, as believers in our glorious LORD JESUS CHRIST, don’t show favoritism.  the principle he gives here is don’t show favoritism.

now whenever james starts a sentence with my brothers then you know he’s getting ready to nail you.  you can count on it!  what he is talking about here is prejudice, partiality, favoritism.  the new english bible calls it snobbery.  he says, “don’t be a snob.”

a snob is someone whose nose turns up when their eyes look down, somebody who always thinks they’re better than everybody else.  the greek word is a compound word that means “to receive” and “to face.”  it literally means “to receive somebody’s face.” – to receive somebody at face value, on the basis of how they look, superficial judgment.

james says, “don’t do that”.  don’t accept people just on superficial judgments.  the new english bible says, never treat anybody in a different way according to their outward appearance.  it is a common social disease.

just a thought from the front porch…