Mosaic (Oct 17)

Amber Thiessen
1 day ago
4 min read

Updated: 38 minutes ago

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” (Jam. 2:1).

The word partiality in James 2 means lifting up a face to pass judgment—evaluating others merely by outward appearance: rank, wealth, ethnicity, or social status. Interestingly, this word in the Greek appears only in Christian writings.[1]

Isn’t that interesting?

Favoritism, social class hierarchies, and racism are addressed in the early church with a distinctly Christian response: There’s to be none of it.

In my small bubble of the world, it doesn’t seem an issue at the forefront. Our family befriends, loves, and values people from other cultures and backgrounds...don’t we?

A child in class comes from a difficult home and raises topics I’d rather not discuss with my 11-year-old.

A colleague misunderstands my assessment, I spoke too directly and he responds by not following through with a task I thought I’d communicated. A cultural nuance I didn’t account for.

On Sunday morning, I wander through the church foyer—who do I choose to talk to?

At lunch, people are already clustered at tables—where do I sit?

Our choices aren’t only shaped by appearances (though we must admit that happens), but also by preference. We tend toward people who make us comfortable:

A mom with kids the same age as ours.

A fellow nurse.

A long-time friend.

We drift toward comfort. It’s subtle—but true.

Let’s pause there.

Safety, comfort, and belonging are good things. But when it comes to relationships within the church, we sometimes need a holy disruption.

If we only stay where it’s comfortable, we miss opportunities to express love and care for others. We assume:

“Someone else will notice them.”

“The pastor’s wife is better at that.”

“It’s not really my job to greet them.”

But these small assumptions reveal much about our hearts, don’t they?

What if we repented of our judgments and unloving attitudes—and prayed for eyes like our Savior’s?

When we’re captivated by Christ, we begin to see others through His love—the poor, the needy, the overlooked. We remember His sacrifice:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”— 2 Corinthians 8:9

Jesus left heaven to enter the world as a child, God in the flesh, and suffered for our sake. He submitted to the Father’s will and saved us.

In the gospel, we see God’s goodness toward us and toward others—how He brings us into one fold, one flock under one Shepherd:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”— Galatians 3:28

And John’s vision gives us a glimpse of that perfect unity:

“A great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”— Revelation 7:9

This is God’s design—a unified people pursuing His kingdom purposes.

As James reminds us, faith expresses itself through works. And Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and love others. This is the heart of the Christian life—the hinge on which our faith turns.

Even as Jesus prayed,

“That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you... so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”— John 17:21

So how will we live differently when we begin to see others through the eyes of Christ?

Can we pray Jesus’ prayer for our churches—that we would see one another as He does and pursue unity despite differences in wealth, culture, or ethnicity?

Will we repent of mistaken judgments and instead pursue selfless love for each other?

[1] John MacArthur, James: Guidelines for a Happy Christian Life, p. 28

On The Blog

On My Shelf

I’m just started this one on reframing Christian womanhood. I’m encouraged and hopeful with what it’s accomplishing.
The writing life is usually rooted in a desire to publish a book. It’s a dream that I’ll have to make time to work on. So I made a first step by taking a book proposal course with Lara d'Entremont and reading Hungry Authors as I go.
Leading a study on the book of James this fall, I’ve enjoyed this commentary and also this one.

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