Heaven was opened, and (Jesus) saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

We saw last time that love does not stratify the value of people. Judgment depends on that kind of stratification. The person judging is often seen as or wants to be seen as having a higher status than the person being judged. The need to be seen as or consider oneself as above or below others feeds this stratification and further judgment.

And it is to this that James refers when he writes that Christians must not show favoritism (2:1). The brand of favoritism he speaks of is wealth and most of us have seen that kind of favoritism in our local churches and perhaps in our own lives. But we’ve all seen the same thing in regards to any number of other judgments.

When we stratify the value of the people around us we judge. This is why a culture of honoring all is necessary to becoming a non-judgmental believer in Jesus…it is necessary to being like Jesus.

How do we treat the people we meet (which is the context of the James passage)? Rich vs. poor might make some differences. But so might their last name, if one has a name that is the same as a denomination leader. Political connections. Even being in the right kind of need might be the ticket that draws people’s attention. (As one church leader told me, “Honestly, we don’t know what to do with your family. You don’t seem to have any needs.” I told him, “Friendship is something everyone needs.” He responded rather curiously, “Oh, well, that’s not something we do.”)

What he was telling me was that their church was going after the down-and-outers, and we didn’t measure down. Kind of humorous in a way, and probably a good thing for us to know before we settled in. Showing favoritism works in ways that might not seem obvious at first.

Judgment comes in an infinite number of shapes and sizes. So much so that battling judgmentalism in our lives is impossible. There’s just too many ways to do it.

So rather than battle the problem, pursue the solution: Honor. So how do we honor the people around us? I like to think of ‘honor’ in terms of the three a’s. Acceptance. Affection. Attention. Affirmation.

God knew this: When Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John, His Father and the Spirit showed up (Attention) and “owned Him” (Acceptance). And he said, “This is My Son whom I love (Affection) with him I am well pleased. (Affirmation)” (Matt 3:17).

If we wonder why people don’t seem to respond to us well, it’s often because one (or more) of the four a’s is missing in how we treat them. So I want to pursue this more next time.