Share (James 2:1)
Written by Pastor Kuder   
 Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
It was October, and Jules was well into her third year of college.  One of her favorite holidays, Halloween, was coming up soon.  Now granted, there were many things about Halloween that Jules liked.  She loved the festivity of this season.  Getting to dress up as all sorts of different people and characters was always a ton of fun.  Getting to go to all sorts of parties was also always a ton of fun.  But the one thing that she always seemed to enjoy the most … was giving out candy to different people.
Jules had always loved giving out candy this time of year.  Even when she was younger, she loved giving out candy more than she did receiving it.  In fact, there were times when she was younger, when she had gotten back from Trick or Treating and they were out of candy at her own house, she would give out some of her own candy that she had collected to people who came knocking at her door.
For Jules, this joy hadn’t died as she got older.  In fact, when she got to college she had made a point of going out every year and picking up some candy to give out to her friends and other random people that she passed by.
This year was different though.  Money was a tighter than usual for her.  The job that she had had waiting for her when she would come back to school wasn’t there this time.  And she hadn’t been able to find any jobs that would work with her school schedule.  She had become convinced that this year she was just going to have to cut back in certain areas.
Fortunately though, her parents knew about her financial situation and how this was going to affect her.  So without telling Jules, they put together a very special care package for her.  When it arrived, she opened it up, and there before her eyes was this huge assortment of some of the neatest looking Halloween candy she had ever seen.
As she went through her care package amongst all of the candy, she found a hand written note from her parents.  It read, “Dear Jules, we know how excited you get this time of year.  And since we knew about your job situation, we decided that this year we would send you some candy.  We’re fairly sure that we’ve sent enough so that you can give some to everyone that you meet.  Love Mom and Dad.  
As Jules read this note, she noticed that her parents had written in big capital letters the word, “EVERYONE.”  As she went through the care package she began to realize that her parents really had sent her enough candy to share with everyone that she would meet.  As she began to think about this … she began to think about all of the people that she was going to be coming across.
She first thought about all of her friends that were here at college with her and how excited she would be to share new treasure with them.  And then she thought about all of her professors and the people who she sat with in class.  She then started to think about some of the other people that she would come across.  There were those people who would come back late at night to the dorms and be all loud and wake everyone up.  There were those people who dressed all weird, and kind of creeped her out.  And as Jules thought more she realized that there were a bunch of people that she would come across that she’d rather not talk to.
As she thought about this she wondered did her parents really expect her to share this treasure with EVERYONE that she met?  Were her parents really expecting her to show no partiality whatsoever when it came to sharing this treasure that they had given to her?  Show no partiality
Show not partiality.  Show no bias.  Show no favoritism.  Sometimes this can be such an alien concept to us.  We have our favorite foods.  We have a preferred way of getting to work.  We have a preferred worship service that we attend.  Our bias’ can come so naturally to us sometimes.
But let me ask you something … what about when it comes to sharing our faith with other people?  That faith that God blessed each and every one of us with.  That gift of faith.  That gift that He gave us which is beyond our measure.  The thing is though … that if God gave it to us … doesn’t that mean that we have the right to decide who we share it with?
I mean when we sang this little gospel light of mine when we were little we weren’t really talking about having God’s light shine through us onto everyone we meet, were we?  But the fact is … that when we show partiality when it comes to sharing God’s love with those around us, we are being convicted by the law as transgressors … as sinners.
However, just as Mark chapter seven tells us that Jesus opened the ears and loosened the tongue of the man in from Decapolis,  it is through Jesus’ death and resurrection, that He has looked at us and said “Ephphatha” “be open.”  And by doing so He has opened our hearts to Him.
This past Wednesday during our chapel service, we sang an old favorite hymn of mine.  “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love.”  
The fact is, that there are times when it might be hard or awkward for us to share our faith with other people.  But the thing is though, that since Jesus has open our hearts to Him … we are able to share our faith, that most precious gift which He has given to us, with others … and they will know we are Christians by our love.  Love which He first showed to us with no partiality.
In His name we pray.
-Amen
 

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