Seeing people God's way

 

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? – James 2.1-6

 

 

If there was ever a story that the western church needs it is this reminder. I’m afraid I am going to have to vent a bit.

 

Many of our western churches have forgotten where we came from. While churches all over the world struggle to pay their pastors and afford buildings and meet the needs of their people, thousands of churches have focused on their buildings and fixtures and making a good impression. Pastors live on six (or seven) figure salaries in many cases. Christians are focused on their fancy church clothes and new cars and having the perfect homes while the poor live all around them and all over the world.

 

I know from experience what it feels like to not be among the better off to come to church in an old banger and wearing a cheap suit. It always takes a while to be able to fit in. A big problem in a lot of churches is that we are prone to our prejudices. Everyone wants to be around the rich and popular and, well, clean people. If people don’t meet up to our standard it is easy enough to just dismiss them.

 

God seems to have the opposite view. There are some ways where God prefers the weak and the poor and the base and the foolish instead of the strong and the rich and the noble and the wise. If God uses the least likely in our eyes He is the One who gets the glory.

 

God has a different view of people. We are all the same in His sight. In fact, Paul writes about how God tends to use the weak and the base and the powerless and the foolish as His tools to do His work. The ones we think to be least likely are the ones God sees as most likely.

We must get our eyes off of the exterior and the things we can see and learn to see people through Jesus’ eyes. If we do that there will no room for first appearances prejudicing how we see others.