Servantjean

Favoritism is a self gratifying action. When we favor someone because he/she is popular or wealthy we are doing it for our own selfish needs and wants, which are not Godly. We want to be on the good side of them and be accepted and not ridiculed, so we think. When we ignore the unpopular and poor we think that we are better than they or that others would look down on us. We are making judging on one group of people against another.

I don't know if you would call this discrimnation, but I feel very uncomforable with people claiming they are Christians while they're taking a puff off a cigarette, have a glass of alchohol in their hand or using curse words and saying there is nothing wrong with it. If we look as those who do not know the Lord, I believe we should look into their eyes as Jesus would and see either the pain or loneliness that they may have. I know that I am a sinner and I won't be totally pure until I am with the Lord, but I try to live my life each day as if it will be my last day on earth and to be able to present myself before the throne of God.

I believe that James tells us to help the poor and hold onto our tongues, ecause we have a tendency to be selfish and boostful. When we are helping others it takes our mind off ourselves and focuses on the other person. Jesus came to serve us and we are far less the He. We should follow His example when it comes to serving others, speaking to others and worshipping the Father.

Why are we so easilty fooled into thinking that listening to the Bible teaching means that we are living out the righteous life? What is the nature of the self-deception? I believe that some of us think this way due to teaching we may have received while growing up. Some churches teach that the Bible is only a history book and that there are only a certain number of people in the church that can interrupt the Bible. As a child I thought that the pastor of a church was the word and law as to what we are suppose to be like. I did not become to know my Savior Jesus Christ until I was about 46 years old. When I first started reading the word I could not understand it, but I didn't give up and now the words speak to me. I believe that the nature of self-deception is ignorance on our part and Satan keeping us away with his lies, by telling us that we would never understand it.

As we study the Bible frequently it gives us light into how we should live our lives being children of God and as you read the "Words of Truth", which God has given us, it changes you inside so that you want and desire to say and do the things that would be pleasing to God. Living the spiritual life and believing on the word is what gives us eternal life with Christ.

Verse five says that if we want to receive wisdom we must ask for it and it will be giving. But verse six says that we must ask for it with a faithful heart, truling believing that God will give it to us. When we have trails and we turn to God to pull us through it helps us to pull through it and builds us into a more mature Christian attitude. He gives us wisdom and strength to be able to face the same situation when it approaches us again.

I believe that when we go through trails before we find Christ we tend to feel sorry for ourselfs and find excuses or blame to get us through these trials. When you have Christ in our lives you know you have His great big hands to hold onto you while you are going through it and when it's over you realize how much He is needed and find the comfort you would not find without Him, then the next time you go through the trail you approach it in a different light. To look to Christ when going through our trials helps us to grow closer to Him and less to looking to ourselves.

Most people, especially today, like to blame others for the responsibility of their own actions and this sometimes includes God. People get so self involved in their own desires and wants that when something goes wrong they can't see it as themselves. God does not tempt anyone to sin, it's a choice we choose to make on our own when we decide to go with a sinful desire that is within us. God tempts no one. God loves us all so much that He has giving us free will. sinner or saint, to either serve Him, ourself or Satan.

I am a 52 year old woman and have survived physical, mental and sexual abuse in my childhood. For many years I was very depressed, and when I became 24 I became sterile due to the events in my past. I didn't come to know the Grace of God and the Love of Jesus Christ, or the forgiveness of sin, until I was about 45 years old. When I look at all the events that I have been through it brings tears to my eyes to see how God was with me all those years. I know if it wasn't for His protection my life could have ended up in a different direction. Little things that happen that brought joy to my life could not have happened if it weren't for Jesus holding onto me with His invisible hand. When I was about 26 we tried for an adoption. The way a child was place in our home could have only been from my Lord working in my life. My life now is filled with joy, peace, and happiness and I have learned to love others as Jesus would have me to do.