Love thy neighbor

Jas 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

Poor of this world.

We lament our poorness don't we? We spend days, nights, weeks, months, years of our lives wishing and longing to be rich- or at least richer than we are so we don't have to scrimp and save, barely getting by. So much of our time is spent longing for more than we possess. So much time Satan steals from us as he insinuates that our poorness in worldly goods is something to be ashamed of, something to fix, something to abhor, something to hate. Yet we are told by God that the POOR are chosen to be RICH in faith- and HEIRS of the KINGDOM, the poor who LOVE HIM have this promise. The rich who love God will also be heirs and yet very few rich people even feel they have a need of God. Very few rich people will see God's kingdom…

Luk 18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Rich men have such an awesome responsibility to help the poor that it becomes incredibly overwhelming. They lose sight of the point where they should help even if it means losing their own riches and becoming poor themselves.

Hath not God chosen the poor of this world.
Rich in faith.
Heirs of the kingdom promised to them that love him.

Jas 2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Jas 2:7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

But people despise the poor and being poor. When a person is poor it is a sign of failure- failure to be more than poor. The poor really are despised- and under a guise of pity people might help them a bit, yet that fear of being poor themselves rears its ugly head all too often. You'll get so many people saying they do not despise the poor at all yet the majority of those would not give up all their riches and become poor- to become like those they say they pity. They despise them and do not want to be like them, they despise the idea of being truly poor.

People who belong to God are oppressed by others, those others blaspheme the name of God. We cannot be like them we just can't! We cannot despise the poor, we cannot have respect of people on the level that the earthly do, on the level that our natural person strives to do.

We only have hope through CHRIST, ONLY THROUGH CHRIST!

Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

The ROYAL LAW according to Scripture…

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Lev 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

Mat 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Fulfilling the royal law.

If we do NOT love our neighbors then we are respecting people in the sense we are judging them and we are sinning.

Oh to love others as we would be loved…treat others as we would be treated. We are given so many incredible reasons NOT to love others by the things they say and do to us. No matter how horrific we are to LOVE them. It is this seemingly impossible feat that we are to accomplish and we ONLY can do this through the GRACE of our LORD, through HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, HIS LOVE!

Please Lord, Please….