On Sunday, 11/24/13 our morning church service was about chapter 2 of the book of James. I have read this chapter many times before but yesterday’s reading hit me like a ton of bricks. It hit me so hard that when the preacher went on past verse 10, I didn’t hear what he was saying. Here are the verses that specifically touched my heart:

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old 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? (vs 8) If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. (James 2:1-4, 8-9 NIV)

For many, many years I had a VERY judgmental heart. I would rarely say what I was thinking but in my mind, I was judging people pretty regularly based on what I saw. If you were buying beer, you must be an alcoholic. If your clothes were unclean, you must be homeless. If you had green hair, you were just a rebellious person seeking attention.

I have grown so significantly in this area over the years. I have been so very blessed to actually get to know people who are alcoholics/addicts (both active and recovering), are homeless and some who even had green hair. What I learned through those experiences is that you should NEVER judge people by their outward appearances and sometimes not even by their outward actions. The reality is that all people feel pain, all people have hardships and some of us are just blessed to have family and friends to help us through those things where others are not so fortunate. And regardless of all of our individual experiences, we ALL need God.  In my heart I “think” I now treat all people the same – at least I try to. But still…when I read these scriptures it caused me to pause and think.

I know there are many, many scriptures that tell us we are to love everyone (even our enemies) but I never previously acknowledged or realized that treating any one person better than another – showing favoritism – is a sin (vs 9).

So the next time I pass someone on the sidewalk who ‘appears’ angry, unclean or unusual, I will once think of these scriptures and be reminded that no matter what our circumstances, EVERYONE is EQUALLY entitled to receive God’s grace and love and I am responsible for treating them as such.