Help us not to be partial towards others

Jas 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
Jas 2:2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
Jas 2:3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Jas 2:4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

We judge all too often based on sight, and it's so incredibly hard not to do that isn't it? I know all too often I'm guilty of looking upon a person and based on their outward appearance I imagine them to be a certain type of person. The woman that dresses skimpily- she's obviously an immoral person, right? The boy with the jeans hanging off his rear with his hair spiked and big hoop earrings stretching out his earlobes, why he's obviously a rebellious youth - a troublemaker. The girl with the pink hair and chains crisscrossing her body is obviously disturbed and also a troublemaker. And you know what, maybe my presumptuous thoughts are way off the mark but aren't these people TRYING to portray a certain image? Seriously, don't those who blatantly dress and groom themselves in certain ways desiring to appear in a particular manner do so because they WANT us to view them like that?

I believe we have to be wary and yet NOT judging if that makes sense.

If a person who lives on the streets without access to bathing facilities and without access to decent clothing and such approaches us automatically we tend to be leery of them, yet God would have us treat ALL men equally- even those who appear like gangsters, like gang members, like prostitutes, like pimps, like thieves, thugs, and simpletons, etc. ALL men treated equally- sounds like our constitution doesn't it, but truthfully God would have us NOT judge that outward appearance. While we are wary and not eager to throw ourselves into situations that might be dangerous, we MUST have faith in God that He will protect us or allow us to endure a trial for our faith, no matter what.

If we only cater to those we imagine are of equal or greater stature than ourselves then we are doing the exact opposite of what Jesus taught us. Jesus went to ALL classes of people without prejudice and we are to do the same.

Maybe we don't often find ourselves in situations that make us choose between an upper class or lower class person - as society judges, but when we do we HAVE to ask ourselves who needs us to be more compassionate- the one who has much or the one who has little?

May God bless us and help us to live as He would have us live and treat others as He would have us treat them. Help us NOT to be partial in ourselves- judging wrongly based upon sight as man judges. Help us Lord to judge as God would have us judge- all through HIS grace! Through HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS! HIS AMAZING LOVE!

Amen.