Happy Labor Day!

"If a man comes into your church dressed in expensive clothes and with valuable gold rings on his fingers, and at the same moment another man comes in who is poor and dressed in threadbare clothes, and you make a lot of fuss over the rich man and give him the best seat in the house and say to the poor man, 'You can stand over there if you like, or else sit on the floor'---well, judging a man by his wealth shows that you are guided by wrong motives."

~ James 2:2-4 LAB

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Commentary: "Why is it wrong to judge a person by his economic status? Wealth may indicate wise decisions, and hard work. On the other hand, it may mean only that a person had the good fortune of being born into a wealthy family. Or it can even be the sign of greed, dishonesty, and selfishness. By honoring someone just because he dresses well, we are making his appearance more important than his character. We sometimes do this because 1) poverty makes us uncomfortable; we don't want to face our responsibilities to those who have less than we do; 2) we too want to be wealthy, and we hope to use the rich person as a measure to that end; 3) we want the rich person to join our church and help support it financially. All these motives are selfish; none of them sees the rich man or the poor man as a human being in need of fellowship. If we say Christ is Lord of our lives, then we must live as He lived, showing no favoritism and loving all people regardless of their circumstances.

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