Thursday April 7, 2022

Scripture James 2: ⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: 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? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? ⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. ¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Life Lesson: We must always be careful to scrutinize that which the world values.  We are children of God, not sons and daughters of Satan.  Therefore, always exercise discernment whenever worldly values are being pushed on you so that you are not taken captive by idolatrous and perverse ideology.

– The fact that we are told in no uncertain terms that “God [has] 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” should be all the witness we require to question the world’s value systems. 

– While many of us have been conditioned to desire wealth, earthly possessions, status and external appearances, we need the detoxifying influence of the Holy Spirit to see things as they truly are!  What if we had the ability to see through the eyes of Christ the vice like grip the devil has exerted on the populations of the world to covet perishable trinkets while disregarding the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven!? 

– Some put their hope in trying to keep the law of God, yet are blind to the reality that when they stumble at just one point of the law, they too are law breakers under judgment!  However the apostle Paul tells us, Gal. 5: ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  And again in Rom. 8: ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”  In order to keep the royal law found in scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” we can only do so by the leading and empowering of the Spirit!   

– Through the power of Christ in us we do not perceive people as the world does, but through the eyes of faith.  And faith does not seek to merit righteousness from God but trusts God for His atonement and enabling. We who believe are beneficiaries of the mercy of God! How can we who have received forgiveness from an eternal debt withhold mercy from anyone?  No one has committed an offense of eternal proportions against me nor could they.  This is why we must “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”!  In Christ Jesus we who were also in bondage have been set free and now we live to proclaim freedom to everyone!  We view or value no person through the eyes of flesh but through the Spirit who gives life!  We therefore, live by this motto, “Mercy triumphs over judgment”!