Don’t Throw Away the Raisins!

My brothers, hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ without showing favoritism. For suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring, dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in. If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes so that you say, "Sit here in a good place," and yet you say to the poor man, "Stand over there," or, "Sit here on the floor by my footstool," haven't you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

James 2:1-4

It was Easter Sunday more than 20 years ago. A man and his wife and young daughter visited our church. It was memorable not for who they were since we never saw them again. But it was memorable because of the way the man dressed. He was wearing a T-shirt which did not cover his stomach. In talking with the man after the service I do remember that he told me he felt comfortable in coming to our church because he saw my van in the parking lot. My van was a converted telephone utility truck painted purple with cheap spray cans of paint from our local Odd Lots. Now you must remember that 20 years ago most men were still wearing coats, if not coats and ties to Sunday morning assemblies. The drift toward totally casual dress codes at church had begun, but had not progressed to the point of T-shirts that did not cover your belly.

James 2:1-4 is a poignant reminder that judging a man or woman by clothes or even hygiene is not the way of God. To decide what is in a man’s heart based on his outward appearance makes you a judge with evil thoughts!

I know a man, who ever since he was a boy would pick the raisins out of his sweet rolls. He did not like raisins and would take the time to eliminate them from his diet. I’m sure the nutritional value he missed by throwing the raisins away was made up in some other way in his diet, but there is an important lesson for all of us.

Are there people that you pick out of life’s “sweet rolls” and cast them aside without listening to anything they might have to say? Is it people who have the wrong hair style, or a strange accent, or a different skin color? Perhaps it is people who’s cleanliness is not the “godliest.”

One lesson that I am still learning is that when I meet a man or woman who repulses me by outward appearance I pause and ask a simple question. “Could this be a ploy of Satan to keep me from God’s ordained purpose in knowing this person?” I must confess that some of the most important people in my life would never have been there if I had heeded my first impression.

Remember man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart!