“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.” (James 2:8, ESV)
Yesterday ended at the cross. Today it has to walk.
James calls it the royal law. Love your neighbor as yourself. A seat received by mercy is a seat that has to move. You cannot sit in a mercy seat and run a judgment chart at the same time.
So here are three commitments. Each one is the chart played out in a different room.
Sunday. I will sit next to someone I would not normally sit next to. If you came alone, find someone who came alone. If you sit with the same people every week, watch the door and find the new face.
Monday through Friday. I will ask the quietest voice their take before the loudest one. In a meeting, turn to the person who has not said anything. At the dinner table, ask the kid or the in-law who rarely gets a word in.
Home. I will invite someone to my table who has not been there. A neighbor you have waved at but never had over. A widow. A single parent. A family that visited Bethel this month. Order pizza. The seat matters more than the food.
You do not have to do all three perfectly. Pick one. Really do it.
None of these is a stunt. Do not go find a person to sit beside so you can tell someone you did it. The chart only changes if you keep changing it. One Sunday is a gesture. A season of Sundays is a new chart. This is also the season’s confession in plain clothes. We say we welcome Jesus into our everyday life. These three seats are where He shows up this week.
Today: Pick one of the three commitments. Decide who. Decide when. Write the name down where you will see it.