Billy was like the rest of us.  He didn’t particularly stand out with great qualities or bad.  But, Billy knew how to periodically change his class standing and raise his popularity.

One day he came to school with a fancy yo-yo.  He did a few tricks during recess while we all stared in awe.  Of course everyone wanted a try and Billy let us each have our turn.

Then, he told us that his uncle worked for the company that made these yo-yo’s.  Our eyes bulged and mouths gaped.  There was a clamoring by these eager youngsters to ask for a free yo-yo.  They never came.

Another time, Billy was telling us about one of his relatives who worked at a meat factory.  He grossed us out with tales of butchering, blood and guts.  The guys loved it and the girls squealed in horror.  That’s when Billy suggested that he could bring enough cow eyeballs for us to dissect during the science lab.  We all shouted in unison that that would be so cool!  We never saw any eyes.

After a while, Billy seemed to be by himself a lot. The kids never believed him any more.  There were a lot of promises that were never fulfilled.

When the kids thought they could get something from Billy they gave him a lot of attention.  He was the favorite on the playground.  Everyone wanted to be around him.  It wasn’t really his fault as much as it was all of us.  We were all being selfish.

If I close my eyes and think back on those playground moments, I can still hear us calling out to Billy placing our orders for whatever he was promising.  Maybe that lesson long ago is still the same for adults today.  Whenever we play favorites it shows our own faults. 

A selfish heart will attempt to garner favor with potential benefactors.  Greed is a part of the sinful human heart.  It certainly has nothing to do with righteousness.

James simply and boldly forbids us from showing favoritism.  He is still in the mode to describing true righteousness.  Favortism is not an expression of a righteous heart.  That extra attention afforded to people with apparent wealth has a tug on our self-serving desires.  We should treat all people with equality.  Our investment into their lives should reflect our desire to share with them the love of Jesus Christ.

James 2:1-4

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