you're my favourite

James 2:1-13
These are my thoughts from the past two days. I forgot I had internet access and so I wasn't blogging...

Obvioulsy the key word from this passage is favouritism. James is adamantly against favouritism and again it seems like he especially opposed to any favouritism shown toward the rich. It seems likely from the passage that the rich had done something to really oppose James and possibly the rest of the believers - they are the ones exploiting the believers and suing them in court. To curry favour with the rich, and maybe to prevent themselves from being sued, people were quick to offer them the best spots in the church. James says that this isn't just bad behaviour but it is actually sin as defined by "love your neighbour as yourself."
Who are my favourites? In my ministry, I don't think I give special treatment to the rich but as I coldly evaluate our ministry, I think we might give special attention to the "cool". As I look at who our leadership team spends time with, it is often the cool. To evaluate myself, I have to ask if I am looking for some kind of validation - is it that I couldn't make the cool crowd in school and by hanging out with them now I am somehow proving that I can be cool? Is it that I am worried about my reputation - if I spend too much time with the uncool, do I become uncool? This has really caused me to think about our ministry a lot. Why don't we attract more "at risk" students? Why are most of our students well dressed, good looking and skilled - the so called successful students? Is this just a function of the demographic of our church? Is this whom we've been called to reach or do we have an unfulfilled ministry to others? I'm going to have to continue to wrestle with this one. I do know that if I am playing favourites personally or in the ministry, I am as guilty as an adulterer. That's pretty serious stuff!