No Favorites

 

“But if you show favoritism, you sin…”

—James 2:9

It is truly hard not to have “favorites.” Almost everyone has personal preferences that predispose him or her to treat some people one way and others another way.

Maybe we are influenced by the way someone dresses, or smells, or talks, or acts, or a host of other factors. But, such behavior on our part is not in accord with Scripture.

Here’s what the Apostle James, the head of the church in Jerusalem and the half-brother of our Lord, wrote about this subject in James 2:1-10:

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor.

Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

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. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to his "son in the faith," Timothy, regarding this subject in 1 Timothy 5:21:

I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

We do well if we determine to purposefully treat every person the same: with kindness, compassion, and always extending the love of Jesus.

 

_{Copyright © 2014 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

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