The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

James 2:1-5, “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”
4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”

I will just be honest! When I worship in church, I prefer to be seated by a person or persons I know. There are many reasons for this; however, I have often been seated by persons I had
never met. Nevertheless, it did not harm my focus on either the Scriptures or on the preacher.

We’ve seemingly handled that “gold ring” affair cited in our passage above, because with the lights dimmed, I have not been able to discern whether the one by whom I was seated had any ring, much less, whether or not it was a gold one. Dim lights also discourage noticing whether a nearby person was “properly” dressed. All that being said, I’m more concerned that those people are there!

My parents always “dressed nicely” for church. They weren’t wealthy, so no one was angling his or her head to see if they had jewels. They did not. They came to engage in a corporate meeting of sincere worship with others of “like precious faith.” That’s the training I received; and it’s what my late wife and I sought to instill in our children.

It’s my earnest prayer that we will soon return to the understanding of what true worship is! It is prayer and praise and spiritual absorbtion of the Word that is earnestly proclaimed from the pulpit by a sincere, prayer-provoked male messenger of the LORD God Almighty. I need that
kind of ministry, and where I attend, I receive that kind of ministry. I trust that you do, too.

None of us knows how much (or little) time we have left on this earth. (Please know that I am currently feeling fine.) All the same, we never know when the LORD will call us to be with Him. If we’re focused, as we ought to be on worship, we will never be surprised nor harbor any regrets. And for my readers who are genuinely hindered from attending worship in your church, you can wear whatever you please; “…for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). God bless you! You are always in my prayers. And I trust that I am consistently in yours.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom