Top X July 12, 2025 Devotional
July 12, 2025
JAMES 2:2-3 | 2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here in a good place, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit by my footstool.”
James uses an actual example of favoritism, probably drawn from his experience of church life. A rich member is honored and a poor one is dishonored. This creates distinctions and divisions in the church, mirrors one of societies most obvious flaws and it introduces a way of judging which has inherent flaws from a divine perspective.
One of those flaws is ambiguity and arbitrariness. Wealth and poverty are often ambiguous indicators of personal character. Is the rich person rich through inheritance, in which case his money is irrelevant? Is he wealthy by hard work and industry, sheer luck, or by nefarious practices? Is the poor person lazy? Did he suffer ill-fortune? Did he give all his money away?
Do you think these questions show the artificiality of social and economic hierarchies?
