Favoritism: the act of giving unfair treatment to a person or people at the expense of another.
James said it best in James 2:8-9:
“Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.”
If we are being honest, I was not at all aware of the weight that the topic of favoritism carried. I had no idea that it was such an issue in our world today. Unfortunately it is, and my eyes have been opened in a way that they have never been before.
A couple weeks ago, my squad and the other three squads that are living here in Gainesville had a chance to hear from an organization called OneRace. Their whole vision is to bring racial reconciliation among the nations by raising up individuals through education and training. Not through condemnation, but through love. Please please please look them up! They are awesome and GROUNDED in the word of God.
One of the main scriptures they kept coming back to during the three days they were with us was Revelation 7:9-10.
“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, ‘Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!’”
What an image that the Lord has gifted us!!! Even though we may never see this here on earth, we can cling to the fact that we will in heaven. That is beautiful! However, I desire so deeply to see this on earth. To come together, rejoicing in our differences. No matter what race we are, no matter where we stand financially, no matter what political party we agree with most. These things don’t hold our identity. Our identity is in the singular fact that we are children of God! We are all united under that one truth.
When discussing this topic and trying to come up with practical ways to bring this partiality to light, the Lord gave me this image.
He’s there, hanging on the cross. The place where he shed his blood for us. That very blood that poured out was then made into a covering for us and for our sins. We are all under that covering. The Lord didn’t have multiple sacrifices for the different races, or the people with different financial or social standings, or the people with a different past than you. He made one sacrifice, himself, for us ALL. We are all under His blood, His covering, His protection. We are all united under His one body. The scriptures so clearly states that in Ephesians 2:11-22.
He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us!! What? That is so crazy!
How good is God that He didn’t just stop at saving our souls and reconciling us back to Him? Instead, He continued building bridges between us as people that were once broken and burned down. And that He is still doing that every day of our lives.
I would be nothing but a filthy rag if it wasn’t for Jesus. So who am I to look at someone and say that I am better than they are because of X, Y, and Z? Or to look at myself and say that I’m not good enough because X, Y, and Z. That isn’t my place. The only one worthy enough to judge is the Lord, and what He says about us ALL is that we are His children. The heirs to His kingdom. His beloved. That is so so beautiful!!!
The only thing that is good in me is Jesus, and I want to share that to EVERYONE!!This realization is not easy. These conversations are not easy. But it is so necessary!! I want to bring heaven down here on earth. I want to walk in the freedom of the Lord daily and teach people to do the same. But I’ve realized I can’t really do that effectively and to the fullest possible extent if I’m living a life of partiality and favoritism. That isn’t from the Lord, so it can only be from one other thing: the enemy. And if partiality is from the enemy, why would we want to side with that? Why would we want to be on the losing side? The side that brings nothing but destruction?
Man, and I know this is so much easier said than done. Trust me, I know. But we HAVE to take action. We have to step out, in love, and do something about the world we are living in. It is not enough to recognize something is wrong and do nothing about it. We have to take action!! We have to make the name of the Lord known!
So, I’ll leave you with a challenge. What is it that the Lord is asking of you? What is it that is holding you back from doing that? Pray, ask the Lord what these things are, and do something about it!! We are the body of Christ and we need each other. We need each other’s obedience. We need each other’s action. So go! Do what the Lord has asked you to do! Love on people of all ages, of all ethnic backgrounds, of all political parties, of all social statuses. Go!!
I love you all, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what the Lord does in and through each of you!!
-kailey
