Favoritism works both ways. We often think of favoritism as a one-way street. “The rich show favoritism against the poor.” “The beautiful show favoritism against the rest of us.” But favoritism works both ways. It’s easy for rich people to show favoritism to rich people. But do you know whom it’s easy for poor people to show favoritism too? Poor people. Often when we say we want things to be “fair,” we don’t really mean that. What we really want is for people to show favoritism to us and people like us!
But God doesn’t show favoritism. Look at this command he gave to his people long ago: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly” (Leviticus 19:15). Do you see what God says? Don’t show favoritism to the great. But don’t show partiality to the poor either. How should we treat people? Fairly. Equally. God doesn’t show favoritism.
That’s certainly clear in how the Bible speaks about us. How many people have sinned against God and deserve his punishment? All of us. How many people does God love with his undeserved grace? All of us. Whose sins did Jesus pay for with his death on the cross? All of us. In a world filled with favoritism on all sides, it’s a blessing to know that our God doesn’t show favoritism. His law and gospel are for all.
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