Do We Dishonor the Poor?

Verse: James 2:5-7
⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

Devotion
Have you ever been in one of those rooms either at a haunted house, or a science museum, (weird those two share something in common!) that has the distorted mirrors? You stand in front of one and you look really tall (my favorite), or really….wide…, or your head gets really big. It’s funny. But we know it isn’t a real mirror right? Because it is distorting reality.

This is something that James is getting at here. He is claiming that the way we view things is distorted compared to how God does. In the world’s system, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The rich and famous are celebrated and adored. We almost worship them. We pay money to see them, we read about their personal lives, we even listen to their opinions about all sorts of topics.

But James instead is saying, “don’t you know that’s not how the Kingdom of God works?” In God’s Kingdom the poor are honored. The weak are cherished. The leftovers are called to be used by him. Jesus tells us, in Matthew 5:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

Paul echoes him in 1 Corinthians 1:

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

Jesus even says,

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I could go on. The challenge for us, I think, is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us evaluate our priorities and we see people. Do we automatically esteem people with more money and influence over people with less? How can we “honor” the poor? Am I living my life in any way that takes advantage of the poor, looks down on the poor, or ignores the poor?

The answers to those questions are hard to think about. But as a follower of Jesus, we need to. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us see ourselves, and root out any dishonoring of the poor that we carry in our hearts or actions. Fortunately God is gentle, and it is his kindness that leads us to repentance. This isn’t about shame or guilt. It is about learning the way of Jesus. The way of love.

And once we shatter the mirrors which we are used to looking at people in, we will begin to see people as Jesus does: as they really are.

Prayer
I pray God that you would change my heart for the poor, and give me eyes to see people as they really are.

Author: Christian Dunn