Reading your Bible for today May 4

May 4: James 2:1-10

Key Verse: James 2:8
If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you do well;

Devotion:
How easy it is to look kindly upon someone who is dressed well, and how easy it is to look down upon someone who is dressed in dirty clothes. We are so conditioned by our surroundings and by the people around us we often lose sight of what actually is important in our lives. We lose sight of the real treasures, looking on bright and shiny things as treasures. You could say we are no better than the magpie who seeks anything that shines.

Any person who professes to believe in Christ and does so is as good as any other who does. There is no rich and poor societies within Christ's church. Going to some churches would make you think otherwise when confronted by people who look on the outward appearance of their congregation. Christ looks right through the gay glamour into the person within. If that person is dressing to impress others, then they are not dressing to impress Christ. They have lost their way before they enter into His house!

We may not be able to look into the minds of others, but some insist on wearing their minds on the outside for others to see. We do not have the ability that Christ has to see through people, but many choose to force their minds on others with what they wear or own.

Christ continues to teach us we must “Love thy neighbours as ourselves”, yet we sometimes choose to show our neighbour what we are like through what we own or do. Immediately we have fallen short of Christ's law. Immediately we have judged others! By doing that, we are as guilty as the murderer who will kill to obtain the glamour they wish to wear. Christ does not place sin at different levels but rather as black or white – sinfulness or righteousness. It is a simple choice, but a hard one.

Points to Ponder:
How quick are you to judge others by the way they dress?

What do you think God thinks of you with the “thoughts that you wear”?