James 2:1
My friends, if you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you won't treat some people better than others.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
I saw a video recently that you may have seen, also. It was about two men whose ship wrecked, and they were the only survivors. They drifted to an island where each man took half. On one side of the island, the man prayed for food, clothing, shelter, companionship, and ultimately … rescue. And he got everything he asked for, while the man on the other side had none of these things. The man who received so much began to feel pretty smug, until he asked God why he got so much while his buddy didn’t. The bottom line was that the man who had “nothing” had asked God only to answer the prayers of his friend on the other side of the island.
We like to think that God hears our prayers because we are special to Him … and we are! But we’re no more special than anyone else. Nobody has an “inside track” or a “direct line.” It doesn’t work that way. So it follows that, as people who want to imitate Jesus, we should have no favorites on this earth, either.
That means we shouldn’t be willing to cook a meal for this family in crisis … but not that one. It means that the words, “they don’t attend our church” should never roll off our tongue in the context of helping someone. This means we should be willing to pray for others regardless of where they attend a church – or whether they attend at all. This means we should be willing to pray for – and care about – people in ALL political parties … people of all races, religions, genders, and lifestyles.
We must understand that God does not choose one football team to win over another on Friday night because He favors one more than the other. He doesn’t elect a president or the next American Idol based on favoritism. We need to be very careful about how we pray and what we ask from God in this regard. We need to remember to pray for His will … meaning what outcome will best serve God’s overall plans and purpose … not that God will choose one person or outcome over another out of favoritism. To do so would be the same as to declare that Jesus died on the cross for a chosen few … and that simply is not true. And we should never pray for God to harm another person or cause bad things to happen to him/her!
The bottom line is that we can easily get caught up in everyday vernacular and common talk, and before we know it, we’ve made statements that directly imply one thing or another about our faith … and may give others the wrong impression. We must be very careful to guard our heart, our thoughts, our speech, and our actions, so that others see the unconditional all-consuming love of Jesus in us. God does not “play favorites” … and when it comes to serving in His name - neither should we.
©2010 Debbie Robus
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