If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers (James 2: 8-9).

Chatham Serves is coming up in June. It’s an awesome day where we get to go out and perform service projects as part of our mission to engage with our local community.   

I’ll admit that when I first look at the project list, I fell into this trap of favoritism that James is talking about.  As I scanned the list, I wasn’t looking at the needs. I was looking for friends I knew that I thought would be fun to hang out with.  After all, having great company makes hard work a little more bearable.  But I realized favoring friends over needs wasn’t going to put me in the place where I could be the most helpful.  

When James speaks about favoring the wealthy man who comes into a meeting over the poor man in filthy clothes, his words have me reflecting on “Why?”  The wealthy man is probably rich and powerful, with resources that could be oh so useful to me. By showing him favor, I’m not really trying to help him, I’m trying to earn something from him.  In contrast, I “know” there’s likely no benefit that I can receive from the poor man, so my instinct is to not even try.

Yet James calls back to the parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus tells us the ultimate law is to love God and love our neighbors.  Jesus wants me to see the humanity in everyone.  Jesus doesn’t measure people by their wealth, good looks, station in life, or success at work.  When I show favoritism to a particular person or group because I perceive potential gain from “loving” them as a neighbor, I’m breaking his commandment, not honoring it. 

It's a reminder that even when I think I’m doing something good, I need to pause to reflect. Am I doing this because I’m honoring Jesus’s commandment to love my neighbor, wholly and fully? Or am I letting that “What’s in it for me?” element creep in? If I’m truly integrating my faith and life together, I’m not attaching anything else to these opportunities to serve.

When I took a faith-integrated second look at the projects, I saw the one Jesus put in front of me.  So come Chatham Serves this June, the only string that’ll be attached to my service is the one on my weed-whacker. There’s a need for people to help clean up an elderly person’s yard, and now that project literally has my name on it!

“Love your neighbor” are the words Jesus spoke, repeated by James.  Reflect this week on opportunities to serve that you’re overlooking because it doesn’t involve your favorite people, favorite places, or favorite activities.  Pick one area where you can serve with your whole heart, the way Jesus showed us.