FAVORITISM is the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another; the showing of special favor: PARTIALITY. I imagine some of you might have bristled at the notion that you might be playing favorites with your grandchildren or even your children. Interestingly enough, in many families, each child believes that the other is the favorite of their parents.
Dr. Tracy Asamoah writes, "The question isn’t whether or not you have a favorite child, since it's pretty clear that many parents do. Typically, favoritism has little to do with loving one child more. It is more about how your personality resonates with one child's personality more than the other's. Essentially, it's a question of like." So...we like the child that is most like us...shocking! LOL!
Biblical references to favoritism (or the lack thereof) are many. Abel's worshipful sacrifice was accepted by God, so his brother Cain killed him out of envy. Joseph was given a coat of colors by his father, so his brothers threw him into a pit and left him for dead. Isaac loved and favored the beautiful Rachel over her weak-eyed sister Leah. Rachel favored her son Jacob over his older twin Esau. Esther received favor from the keeper of the handmaidens and was given the kind of preferential treatment that caused her to be chosen for the throne. David, on the other hand, was despised overlooked by his father Jesse and his brothers. His name wasn't even called when it was time to anoint a prospective new king. He was also not thought about when a challenger for Goliath was needed, and he was hated by king Saul. Have you ever been the favored one? How did you feel? Maybe you've been wounded by the favoritism offered another.
Favoritism has consequences. That's why Scripture admonishes against partiality and respecter of persons, particularly on the issue of class. The Apostle James writes in Chapter 2.
1My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3If 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,” 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” a you are doing right. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
Have you ever considered that favoritism is a sin and misses the mark of God's holiness? God who shows no favoritism (Rom. 2:11) | 
No comments:
Post a Comment