It probably won’t surprise you to know that God has strong warnings for his children about showing favoritism.
Even people of the unbelieving world would wholeheartedly agree that showing favoritism causes problems. Think of the child who sits alone on the playground because the other kids don’t want to play with her . . . the teenager who feels that his dad doesn’t love him as much as his older brother because he isn’t a chip off the old block . . . the employee who consistently gets passed over for recognition because she isn’t outgoing or social . . . the examples are endless.
In all of them, someone gets hurt. Favoritism creates deep, internal wounds that are hard to heal.
Favoritism is something that our sinful selves love to experience. Deep down, we all want it. We gravitate toward it and often fall into the trap of showing favoritism as well. Why? The simplest answer is that we’re sinful people. The more uncomfortable, ugly truth is that we don’t love our neighbor as ourselves. At least, we don’t love all our neighbors as ourselves.
We often judge others by outward appearances. We determine worth based on looks, character, and personality. From that shallow, sinful assessment, we decide how we’re going to treat other people. But when it happens to us . . . it hurts when someone else is favored instead of us. It seems wrong and downright unfair.
That’s what favoritism is by definition: the practice of giving unfair, preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another.
When we apply that definition to how we treat others as Christians, is it any wonder that God has such strong warnings about showing favoritism?
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? (James 2:1-4)
Our sinful selves judge others based on outward appearances. To our shame, we might even want to keep from telling someone about the gospel message because deep down we think, “This isn’t for you. . . . You don’t deserve to hear this. . . . You’re not worthy of it.”
God forgive us!
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. We’re sinners. Along with the apostle Paul, each of us can say that we’re the worst. How we view other sinners in desperate need of salvation changes when we realize that there’s nothing inherently deserving or worthy about any of us that led Jesus to come down and save us. It’s only because of his great mercy and love that we belong to him. It’s only because of him that we believe in what he has done.
In his earthly ministry, Jesus showed perfectly that he came to live, die, and rise again for all people, regardless of social class, outward appearance, or lifestyle. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. All people need saving. And that’s exactly what Jesus came to do.
As God’s children, we struggle against our sinful desire to show favoritism and strive to see all people as souls whom our Savior came to set free from sin, just like us. Everyone we come into contact with in this world is someone for whom Jesus lived, bled, and died. We can joyfully say, “This is for you! You need to hear this!”
Dear Christian, our loving God and Father doesn’t show favoritism—his life-saving gospel is for everyone because he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).
Let’s go and share the amazing message about our Savior, Jesus!
Prepared to Answer and More Prepared to Answer provide helpful examples for sharing your faith. Dr. Mark Paustian gives engaging answers to frequently asked religious questions and insights for using Bible accounts to share the amazing message about our Savior Jesus with the people in your life.
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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