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James 2:1
1 My [mou] brethren [adelphos], have [echo] not [me] the faith [pistis] of our [hemon] Lord [kurios] Jesus [Iesous] Christ [Christos], the Lord of glory [doxa], with [en] respect of persons [prosopolepsia]. KJV-Interlinear
1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. NASB
In the previous chapter, James spelled out the true nature or process of the Christian life. With freedom provided by faith, comes responsibility in the function of the liberty of our spiritual life.
God mandates that we grow up, be mature, and advance in our spiritual life as productive and responsible believers, seeking God first through our function within our spiritual life, empathy and sympathy toward others, and self last.
He does not sponsor bystanders, unproductive members, who are quick to take, and are reluctant to and refuse to give.
With salvation comes great blessing. The fact that a believer will end up in heaven is infinitely better than the alternative of the Lake of Fire. However, the believer who advances in his spiritual life to maturity, will receive blessings and reward, which are infinitely greater than those who do not advance in their spiritual life.
And though these two blessings are phenomenal and infinitely beyond anything available on this earth, believers are warned to not deem themselves as better, or superior, than anyone else. Recall that we are all dust, and in what manner can a speck of dust boast to another speck of dust?
Look about you and see the amazing differences in the faces of people. Some are startlingly attractive while others lack beauty. But, they all have the same common denominator - dust.
God formed us all and used the most worthless of ingredients. And out of dust come artists, doctors, the beautiful sparkling eyes of a child, and more. What can man boast of?
All blessing, all promotion, all reward, all provision comes from God and from no other. Why then would people slobber all over a person who possesses gold rings and purple robes, over the poor? Why then do people lean with bias toward those whom they perceive might give them attention, promotion, or more?
Mans role on this earth is to prove Satan wrong and God right. God has placed each individual into history, with every possible and conceivable circumstance, in order to demonstrate His wisdom over that of every other creature, including and especially man.
You should be thankful that you possess life. You should be thankful that you possess salvation. You should be thankful that God has done immeasurable things for you. Even giving you the honor of a role in history, for the purpose of defeating Satan, evil and death.
Why then would anyone throw away that blessing, and exchange it for the world, which amounts to a grand total of nothing?
What can the world give you, that is greater than that from God? What can another person give you, that is greater than that from God? From whom, or from what, can you gain anything that will be greater than that which comes from God?
Then why sin, why scam, why play games with people and life, why ignore truth, which indifference of arrogance will gain you total failure in life, and destroy your eternal blessings. Eternity is a very ling time, therefore its value cannot be measured by human means. And yet most folks wrestle over the mud of this earth.
Eventually we will discover in this Book of James, that there are three levels of grace.
The first is common grace or that which applies to all people, believer and unbeliever alike.
The second is grace, or that which applies to all believers regardless of their spiritual growth.
And the third level, is greater grace, which is the level of grace that applies to mature believers only.
The third level is your target, your goal, the end of your spiritual race, to which you should pursue with all of your strength and purpose in life.
Therefore, honor God first, through Christ, honor others second, and reserve yourself to last, and let God promote you in His good time, not yours.
God has a plan for your life. His plan is far greater than anything you can do for yourself.
