What has James urged us to stop doing? What has his letter urged us to start doing or keep doing? For me, I’m convicted of being condescending and judgmental. I need to work on expanding my understanding what others may be experiencing or what has happened to them. It is so easy to categorize and pudge on hole a person’s story. I have a default of comparing myself to others, thinking that I’ll never measure up or that I havd out distances them. But how am to know what God is teaching them while He is teaching me?
“Once you are able to afford to live in a particular neighborhood, send your children to its schools, and participate in its social life, you will find yourself surrounded by quite a number of people who have more money than you. You don’t compare yourself to the rest of the world, you compare yourself to those in your bracket. The human heart always wants to justify itself and this is one of the easiest ways. You say, “I don’t live as well as him or her or them. My means are modest compared to theirs.” You can reason and think like that no matter how lavishly you are living. As a result, most Americans think of themselves as middle class, and only 2 percent call themselves “upper class.”43 But the rest of the world is not fooled. When people visit here from other parts of the globe, they are staggered to see the level of materialistic comfort that the majority of Americans have come to view as a necessity.” - Timothy J. Keller, Counterfeit Gods
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