Scripture to Read: Luke 18:9-14
Have you ever prayed or even said anything similar to what the Pharisee prayed in Luke 18:11-12? Hopefully, your answer was “no.” But, if we are not guarded against pride, we can begin to compare our lives to others and start thinking we are better, smarter, more spiritual, etc…than someone else. God gives a strict warning against this kind of thinking or attitude in James 2:1-13. God says in James 2:1-4, My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? God calls those who have an “attitude of personal favoritism,” “judges with evil motives.” God wants us to see that this is another form of pride. We are thinking so highly of ourselves that we have become the judge of all others and we judge them by how they look and their financial status. We must see every human being as an individual created in God’s image because that is who they are. Only when we humble ourselves can we love our neighbor as ourselves.
Challenge & Application
1. What did God teach you today about having an attitude of personal favoritism?
2. How will you overcome falling into the trap of having an attitude of personal favoritism?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!