Yesterday morning my son was filling me in on some people at his school. He was giving me reasons that he didn't care for this particular person's actions and he says, "I'm not judging him or anything, but mom, he is OFF THE HOOK!" Where in the world do these kids come up with this stuff??? I tried to keep my wits about myself but coming out of a little ten year olds mouth I just had to laugh out loud.
I have been studying James and boy the Lord is doing a number on me! It just seems the more I study the more I find out just how unworthy I am. I'm not certain if I like that feeling but I sure do LOVE to hear God speak! It is what keeps me coming back for more...being in His presence.
This past week studying, one of the verses I read was James 2:1 "My brothers, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ."
Ok so does favoritism include judging??...I think maybe so. We have a tendency to choose one over the other because of our judgement on the matter. Wouldn't you agree? No I'm not saying you shouldn't like steak better than chicken or vise versa. And I am surely not asking for a debate on favoritism and judgement. We all have a preference as to what suits us better at times. My point is do we pass judgement on someone or something because we have our favorites? James went on to say, do we give the rich man the better seat and the poor a spot as our footstool?
As Anne Lamott says, "You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."
I would say somewhere along the line favoritism would be involved in that statement. Of course hate is a strong word in my book and most of us would say that we don't HATE anyone. But don't we give others that inference when we refuse to acknowledge them or choose to give them two seconds of our time when some one of a more social notability is around. Ouch, that hurt. Our human nature is drawn to someone or something that we favor or that holds more value to us.
Try this on for size...isn't Christ the One with the most of everything? Isn't He the King? Doesn't His royalty far out weigh any other? And what time and stature do we give Him? Do we put Him as our footstool when other things that seem to have more importance appear in our daily lives?
Let's bring this home, when our Facebook feed has 48 new status updates or the Word of God hasn't been opened yet today, which do we choose? When our phone is beeping with messages and our child walks in from school, which do we choose to greet first? When we are tired on Sunday morning, do we stay in bed because we stayed up too late or do we rejoice in the day of the Lord and honor Him by being in His house? And when our work load has doubled and there just doesnt seem to be enough hours in the day, do we keep working on our list of to do's or do we fall on our knees and pray to our Father? Please don't misunderstand me, I am not seeking legalism but I am seeking for us to analyze where we put our favor. Eventually what we favor becomes our character and our character dictates whose we are!! If we are impressed more by what FB has to say than our God, if we place higher the notable and turn our heads on the lowly, if we choose to stereotype this group and exalt another, if we find favor in what the world offers instead of what He has for us what are we really saying of ourselves, and of our God?
I had never thought much of there being fault in favoritism. In my mind I always perceived it as God gave us all preferences; he made none of us the same. That is exactly the difference. There are certain people I mesh with better and certain things I enjoy to do more than others. And again, don't get me wrong, you will have these things in your life, they are your preference. If God made us all the same it would be an even more messed up world. I think where the rubber meets the road is when we choose to show honor and respect more to one over the other. This is where the favoritism comes in. Yes, I looked up the word favoritism and preference and each could be used interchangeably as far as the dictionary goes but to me there is something bigger about the word "favorite" that sets off judgement in my mind. Ok, call me crazy! I don't have any research on that or any Hebrew doctrine. I am just going on a how the words make me reason in my mind. Our actions will show proof of favoritism. Truly the only One that should hold favor to us is Him.
So remember, when you see that one that may not be of the same social group, the same race, or the same background, don't turn from them and show your favor upon the ones that you find notable. Judging a book by it's cover is never a good thing. They deserve your honor and respect just as much as your BFF or the richest man in the world. Esteem them by offering your best and not your leftovers. The same goes with our Lord and Savior. He knows we have agendas each day but He also knows what is the most important...it is Him! Find favor only in Him!!
Encouraging you today that my desire for us all is to be Off The Hook for Jesus! ;-)
