Being Partial

Something I have been thinking on lately is this.

Something is not right in the Christian Church at times.
Not right at all.  That something is the tendency to being partial.

There are times when I have struggled

to keep this one in check.  In balance.

Oh, it's easy to be exclusive.  To be partial.

To have favourites.  Too easy.

And, yet, it's wrong.  Very wrong.

We are not to be partial.  Not to have favourites.

Not to give ourselves exclusively to one person

or group of people within the church body.

We are to be a family.

And, we are to serve one another.

This is not to say that we are not to be discerning.  Not at all!

We ought not to embrace every *wind of doctrine*

in the name of peace and *unity*.

Unless we are united around the LORD and HIS Word,

we do not have unity at all!

There is no peace to be found outside of HIM.

I am speaking here of excluding people within

our local church fellowship who may not be *our kind of people*,

or those who we would perhaps not seek out as friends.

I am also speaking of those ones who we seek out

to the exclusion of others on a Sunday morning.

Perhaps there are those who are lonely, or hurting, or new?

They are the ones we ought to seek out.

I chose this photo to go with this post because it

shows one *special* tree in it ~ just like that one special friend.

Or, perhaps, it's like that one who is excluded.

It is often a temptation to exclude or to be exclusive.

How sad it is!  May it never be said of us!

May the LORD be glorified in all we do and say.

And, may we be instruments of HIS grace to many along the way!

"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring,
in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing,
and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place;
and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of 
this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath
promised to them that love him?

But ye have despised the poor.
Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin,
and are convinced of the law as transgressors."  James 2:1-9

May we each take heed to these words from the Bible
and may we be found living according to them.
By His grace and in His strength.  For His glory alone.

In HIS Love, Camille

**Photo credit ~ Calvin...thank you my love! xo