- Joined
- Oct 26, 2007
- Messages
- 12,544
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. James 2:9
Favoritism is a plague and can lead to idol worship. If that seems like a stretch, consider this: God says you’re not to show favoritism. You sin when you do. By showing favoritism you may be saying you believe that individuals are more important than God. More honorable than His commands. Anything placed above God becomes an idol.
To make this a little clearer, God instructed His people in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.” If God gives a command, you shouldn’t redefine His instruction. Favoritism, prejudice, discrimination, and racism are examples of lawbreaking—and they grieve God. Most people rarely consider this sin, but instead consider ways to justify their favoritism.
God sent His Son for the lost. He didn’t exclude people with certain addresses, bank statements, ethnic backgrounds, or a large sum total of personal sins. 2 Corinthians 5:15 adds, “Jesus died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
Any time you shrink the community of God by excluding someone, you tell the world you don’t need more friends, that only some should have access to God, and that relatively few people really matter. That message doesn’t stand up to God’s love letter to all mankind.
Favoritism is a plague and can lead to idol worship. If that seems like a stretch, consider this: God says you’re not to show favoritism. You sin when you do. By showing favoritism you may be saying you believe that individuals are more important than God. More honorable than His commands. Anything placed above God becomes an idol.
To make this a little clearer, God instructed His people in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.” If God gives a command, you shouldn’t redefine His instruction. Favoritism, prejudice, discrimination, and racism are examples of lawbreaking—and they grieve God. Most people rarely consider this sin, but instead consider ways to justify their favoritism.
God sent His Son for the lost. He didn’t exclude people with certain addresses, bank statements, ethnic backgrounds, or a large sum total of personal sins. 2 Corinthians 5:15 adds, “Jesus died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
Any time you shrink the community of God by excluding someone, you tell the world you don’t need more friends, that only some should have access to God, and that relatively few people really matter. That message doesn’t stand up to God’s love letter to all mankind.
