Daily Devotional

Any show of preferential treatment in God’s Church is contrary to God’s will. Faith and favoritism don’t mix. Favoritism is evidence of a bad heart attitude and it bleeds over into our actions, into the way we look at and treat people.
One of the great men of history was the Human Rights activist, Mohandas K. Gandhi. In his autobiography, Gandhi tells how, as a student in England, he read the Gospel and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that the teaching of Jesus provided the solution to the caste system that divided India. One Sunday he attended worship at a nearby Church and he intended to talk to the Pastor about becoming a Christian. But when he entered the sanctuary, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go worship with his own people. Gandhi left the Church hurt, angry and frustrated, and he never returned. He wrote, “If Christians have caste differences also, then I might as well remain a Hindu.”
Are we turning people away from Jesus? Are we turning people off to the Gospel? Do we operate under a caste system in the Church?
Christian character is about heart. “Love the Lord with all your heart...As a man thinks in his heart so is he...I will praise You, O Lord, with all my heart...Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me...Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding...Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You.” To be who Christ intended us to be, we must focus on what God focuses on—the heart.
God’s people fulfill the Royal Law—“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love, without limit or restriction, without favor or prejudice, without consideration to what they can do for us, without concern as to their background or their station. Love one another as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. When we have that love, it bleeds over into every area of our lives.

(We invite your comments. Feel free to share this devotion with your friends and invite them to subscribe by forwarding their email address to the Pastor at: fredjeffsmith@cox.net.)