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TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. James 2:8

Read: James 2:8-10
Listen: James 2

TODAY’S MESSAGE

By basing his teaching on favoritism in the royal law, said by King Jesus multiple times (see Matthew 19:19; 22:39 and Luke 10:26-28), James teaches that favoritism is no petty sin. It violates both the law of love and the gospel. It is to be taken seriously. All sins are major because they all violate the law of the King, who gave every command. Even a small sin violates the King’s law, for God is love (1 John 4:8). When we choose which laws we will obey, we become our own god. If we obey laws only when they seem right to us, if we pick and choose from among God’s commands when they suit our ends, then we never really obey God at all.

James says we violate the King’s law by showing favoritism. This means ignoring or rejecting someone by not wanting to be associated with them. We show favoritism when we scan the lunchroom or boardroom for a seat next to someone who will make us look good. We show favoritism when we avoid someone during a break because we don’t want to hear their problems. We show favoritism when we speak to family members only when we want something.

TODAY: Who do you seek out for your own benefit and who do you avoid? Ask God to help you see them as God does. Then consider who you need to start caring about in a loving way. Share with a trusted friend and ask them to pray for you in this situation.

JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Read Luke 23. Highlight anything that refers to the Old Testament and how Jesus fulfills it. Note Jesus’s Old Testament quotations while hanging on the cross.

Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.