Lord Have Mercy

We all like to comfortable.

To some extent we try our best to seek comfort, sometimes at all cost. Yet, comfort and the expressions thereof is fairly recent. Historically the only ones which would afforded “comfort” were of a certain social status.

The concept of pews and the “wooden boxes”.

Church and culture.

There is a love-hate relationship between the church and the culture around us. We are to be counter-cultural people this is for certain.

Warning: the culture can influence the church in subtle ways.

We stand firm in the overt ways that are contrary to the world around us. But, we must ask for wisdom, as James would say, to see how our culture influences the church and the people of God in much more subtle manners. This is partly what James talks about in 1.27: do not be defiled by the world.

We must guard against “status”.

For James this is part of the issue, the same can be true for us. For James it was about wealth, in a time when there was little to no upward mobility as it is today. Today it may be about “name”, longevity, generosity, connections, etc.

God does not discriminate.

This is the idea behind favoritism, that God would treat others different based on “what they look like”. We can overtly discriminate and/or show favoritism but most of the time we do this very covertly. I am guilty of covert discrimination.

We need God’s viewpoint.

As James is starting to make the case, God has chosen people, it isn’t always those we would choose naturally for our team.

The law of freedom: love others as you love yourself.

Jesus summed all the laws as this in response to a question: first saying love God fully.

Believers are marked with the name of Jesus.

This is why we must not show favoritism or discriminate among God’s people. To do so is to take issue with Jesus. Lord have mercy on our souls.

We get what we show.

Some may call this the law of attraction, others another word. However, time and time again Jesus made it clear that if we expect something from God part of what we must do is show that to others.

Mercy is God’s heart.

Mercy is not everything is okay. Mercy is not do what is “natural”. Mercy is seeing things from God’s point of view.

Jesus is the Messiah and Lord.

We know this to be true but we must remind ourselves of this truth.

Jesus is the glory of God.

The Shekinah glory, representing the presence of God himself. He is also “our glory” in a sense because if we are united with him there is a future and a hope and many other blessings.