If you show partiality, you are committing sin

I am a middle school teacher. School will (maybe) be starting back in a couple weeks. This morning was challenging for me as I think about my upcoming students. My prayer is that I would not overlook any of my students but care for and lift each one of them up equally. That I would be a model of what it looks like to love your neighbor sacrificially. I pray that I would not have any bias or partiality when it comes to my students and how I treat them. 


FOURTH DAY: Read James 2:1-13.
James warned believers against favoritism.
9. Why is it wrong for believers to show favoritism?
v.4 “Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
v.5 “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world.”
v. 6 “But you have dishonored the poor man.”
v. 8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.”
v. 9 “If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”
  • Favoritism comes from us judging those around us. Our sin nature means that we judge based on the outside and appearance, favoring what the world thinks of as good (money, power, influence, good looks, etc.). 1 Samuel 16:7 says that the Lord looks at the heart of man. 
  • We are to emulate God and seek to be more like him. God does not have favorites. We are all his creation and all created in his image, regardless of our earthly circumstances. James is making a point to say that God has chosen the poor to inherit the kingdom of God, so if God has a heart for the poor then so should we. In the next verse, James continues on to say that favoritism not only is not loving, it is actively hurting and dishonoring the poor man.
  • Favoritism is sinful. God tells us to love one another as ourselves. Favoritism and partiality is directly against this. Practicing sacrificial love is obedience and favoritism is sin.

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