James 2:1-4 Who are you living for?

James 2:1-4
¹My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. ²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. ³If 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,” ⁴have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

In my life, I see the men with gold rings and fine clothes as people that can give many things and the poor as those who can’t give anything. The “good seat” are things of prestige or things that are more than usual.

With that in mind, do you look to people who can give things to you with more attention, more time, more….of anything while looking at those who can’t give back with less attention, less time, less…of anything? When serving, do you serve those who can benefit you more than those who can’t benefit you? It’s an interesting thought. Why would you do that?

I was really thinking about it…..and I realized the selfishness of it…

The question is, where is your reward when it comes to serving? Is it in the mouths of people (words, praise, the thank yous) or the material things (food, money, etc), or in heaven? Well, I guess the better question to ask is, are you willing to serve if you know that there’s going to be no thank yous, no words or recognition, no gifts, no etc? Are you willing to serve knowing that the only person that’s going to see it is God? If that’s the case, you would show no favoritism.

Gal 1:10 says that if your audience is men not God, you are not a servant of Christ, or simply put, not Christian.
In Matt 5:21, it says where your treasures are, your heart is also.

So you gotta ask yourself now with the overall question. Who are you living for?

1 Corinthians 10:31 Glory Work

1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God

The keyword in this is “whatever you do.” Eating does not bring us closer or farther to God, drinking is the same…unless you drink to much of alcohol (which I advise not to do. Don’t cause others to stumble)….But in everything that we do, it should be for the glory of God.

How do we bring glory to God? Jesus states it very nicely in his prayer. John 17:4  I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work (action) you gave me to do. We bring glory to God by doing HIS work, by putting action to our zeal. What is His work? The greatest command is to love God first, then love people. (Selfless servant?)

How are you gonna love on people today?

It’s interesting that my QTs are mostly about being a servant….I think God is telling me something…