Daily Devotional for Thursday, March 7

The Exhortation for Godly Treatment

“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors,” James 2:8, 9.

There are a couple of sayings that fit the text. One is, “I love me some me.” Another is, “This is my beloved self in whom I am well pleased.” We do tend to be very fond of ourselves, do we not? In fact, most of us are self- centered and selfish to an extreme fault. This is not how Jesus wants us to be. Jesus understands our selfishness and tells us the correct way to love others is as much as we love ourselves. That is a lot!

James called this the “royal law” here because the King said it. That was Jesus’ answer when asked which was the greatest commandment in the Law. His answer was to love God and your neighbor as yourself. This command is a double command in a sense. First, James tells us how to treat others—we are to love them as we love ourselves. Next, he tells us what not to do. We are not to show respect to persons; in other words, we are to be impartial and equitable in our treatment of others.

James, as usual, calls it as he sees it; more precisely, he calls it as God sees it. Showing partiality to others is more than just bad judgment or an error in our ways. Showing partiality to others is, in fact, sin and transgression. That is serious business.

Do you treat this as serious business in your dealings with others? Do you do it in God’s way or your way? Who do you love first? Is it God and your neighbor, or is it you?

JUST A THOUGHT
When we want to treat others the way our flesh leads us, we need to remember how Jesus treats us despite what we deserve.

Wally Fry