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James 2:1: My Brothers, Show No Partiality


James 2:1
[1] My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (ESV)

It is possible that I might offend you in today's devotional. I do not try to offend, but I believe this verse offends our natural tendencies. That is one of the things I love about this epistle of James. He is not concerned about coddling the feelings of his listeners. He is far more concerned with making mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

James tells us to show no partiality as we hold the faith that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Let's pause for a moment. Think of the way that he just described Jesus. He is Lord. In fact, he is the Lord of glory. All glory belongs to him, and him alone. What happens when we show partiality? We give glory to lesser things than the Savior. That is idolatrous.

We know that Jesus deserves all glory. Yet, when he came to this earth how did he come? Was he born in a King's castle? No, there was no room found for him in the inn, so he was born in a stable. He was born to poor parents. He lived in a region of Israel that was considered humble at best. He ministered in Galilee and Samaria. The leaders of Israel held those regions in contempt.

Jesus deserves all glory. Yet he chooses to humble himself to the point of identifying with the poor and rejected. It was the people who were full of themselves that got the majority of Jesus' rebuke. It is so important for us to see Jesus as the example for how we do ministry. We are not to desire glory, but servanthood. Those who are humble will be exalted. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled. I leave you today with these beautiful words from Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:5–11
[5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (ESV)

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