July 31
James 2:1: My
brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
respect of persons.
The Spirit of God reminds us, as brethren,
against elevating one person while neglecting another.
Sinful men glorify or reject one another
based on race, gender, class, religious-practice and other things. Fact is, in
ourselves and apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all one, putrid, mass of
filth before the thrice holy God. By God's grace, we believe that God did not
choose any of his elect based on anything in us, good or bad.
Why then would we show favor to one and
reject another based on anything produced by men? God would have his one race
glory in no other but the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why then would
we glory in man by choosing one above another? The glory of the Lord so far
excels all, that when we behold him by faith, every imaginary difference
between Jew and Gentile, male and female, rich and poor, the one who thinks he
keeps the law and the one who knows nothing of God's law, vanishes. Believers
are complete in him, no sin, no schisms, and no differences.
The only true distinguishing
characteristic that exists between sinners in this world is that some refuse to
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ while others have been irresistibly made to glory
only in the one who has made them the very righteousness of God. Knowing
therefore, who it is that makes one sinner to differ from another, rather than
glorying in a man because of some outward thing that impresses our puny flesh
and rather than rejecting some poor sinner because of some outward thing that appalls
our puny flesh, let us glory in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory and
treat all men as sinners equally in need of God’s grace.