Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

20 November 2025

Reading From James 2

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”

—James 2:1-6

     There are elements of equality in the Kingdom of God.  Romans 3:22-24 tells us, “This righteousness is given through faith inJesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  Everyone has sinned and therefore everyone has the same need for God’s grace and mercy.  His redemption is available to whosever will be believe regardless of gender, ethnicity, culture, or as we see here in James, socioeconomic status.  We all have a God-shaped void in our lives that only He can fill and our bank account has nothing to do with settling our accounts with our Maker. 

     Not only is there equality in our need for God and equality in the way that all of us are saved, but there also should be equality with how we treat one another in the Body of Christ which is the Church.  “Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”[1]  From this statement we can deduce that there should not be distinctions among ourselves.  How much money someone has or doesn’t have should not affect the way we treat our brothers and sisters. 

     After all, they are our brothers and sisters not because they are similar to us financially.  They are not our brothers and sisters because they are wealthy and we want to curry favor with them.  They are not our brothers and sisters because they are poor and we feel sorry for them.  We are brothers and sisters because each of us have chosen to believe, felt the prompting of the Spirit, acknowledged and repented of our sin, confessed our sinful state and that Jesus is Savior and Lord to the glory of the Father.  We all have hearts that need His healing touch.  We all are spiritually lifeless and powerless without Him.  And without Him, none of us have hope for the future.  Through Jesus Christ, our Rock and our Redeemer, we declare our independence from the clutches of Satan and our dependence upon God, the pioneer and perfector of the faith we share in common.

“Lord Jesus, I am grateful for the perfect example You set for us during Your time on Planet Earth.  You have blessed us with everything we need for life and godliness in Your Word and by Your Spirit.  I pray that I would be inspired by Your Spirit to treat others as I want to be treated.  Bring us together in love and unity.  I ask that You would show us how to lay aside our differences and come together around the essentials of our faith.  In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things.  Amen.”

Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

—Leviticus 19:15

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

—Galatians 3:28

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[1] James 2:4