2 My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?
2 For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. 3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, 4 doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?
James 2:1-4
Dear God, as a fundraiser, this can be a struggle. In personal friendships, I really don’t care about a person’s social standing. At least I don’t think I do. But as a fundraiser there is a great temptation to treat those who can do more for me as more important that those who can’t.
I was with a group of men a couple of nights ago, and we were looking at this passage. That’s when it hit me. We see the person with more means and are tempted to treat them better. As if they were more important. More valuable. But what makes them more important? To whom are they more valuable? Answer: To me. That’s what hit me. At the end of the day, this sin is rooted in my selfishness.
When I first started doing fundraising right at 23 years ago, that was one of the first things I had to wrestle with: Am I engaging with this person because I truly care about them, or am I trying to manipulate them so they will give me what I want?
I guess that can be said of my relationship with you as well. Am I here so I can check to “heaven” box and get what I want from you, or am I here because I love you. I read an interview this morning with a widow who said in the interview that her one motivation right now is to get herself as close to you as possible so she will get to heaven and get to be with her husband again. I felt bad for her. Honestly, she’s still grieving and I don’t hold it against her that she said this. I don’t think you do either. But I also think, a few years from now–well, I hope a few years from now she will be comforted enough to turn her attention to simply loving you and let go of trying to impress you so she can get what she wants.
Father, help me to be all about loving others and not about serving myself. I’ll be with some other pastors today. I know they are all under a tremendous amount of pressure as they lead their congregations. Help me be a blessing to them. I am having lunch with a friend, and I want to be all about him and about you in this lunch meeting. When I interact with staff, volunteers, or anyone else, I want to simply be your ambassador and worshipper. Help me to be that.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
