Do you show favoritism? Do you know someone (or many someone’s) who does? Have you been the beneficiary of favoritism? Would you like for everyone to be treated equally? Who would decide what is equal? How do you account for diversity of personalities, skills, and physical traits?
We become upset when someone is shown favoritism, unless we are the favorite. We want everyone to be treated equal but have no one who can ensure the treatment is equal. Our human limitations keep us from seeing the entire picture, not allowing us to judge equality accurately.
Our inadequacies in seeing and understanding everything and everyone has been the reason for us to create a plethora of laws to account for the diversity in our world. And it seems as though with every law, there are exceptions. With more exceptions than laws, it becomes a very murky situation for us to navigate. We find ourselves being opposed by someone who has a different perspective.
On the other hand, God accepts everyone who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. He shows no partiality. Not only does God accept them but desires that everyone will follow his Son. If God is willing to accept everyone who desires to follow Jesus, shouldn’t we? If we desire to follow Jesus, we should desire to follow His two greatest commands—we should love God and love our neighbor. Jesus has set the example for us to follow. If we want to follow Him, we should His example.
I pray we all desire to give up partiality. I pray we choose to follow Jesus’ example. I pray each one of us choose to love God and love our neighbor, treating everyone equally as best we can. Stop showing favoritism. Follow Jesus’ example. Love God. Love neighbor. Treat everyone equally.
Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.”
Marty Pressey 