A few years ago when my parents were still alive, they came into the city from their farm for a visit. I took my mother to a nearby store. When we came out, she said, “My, there were certainly a lot of foreigners in that place.”
Busy with finding what we wanted, I hadn’t noticed. I also realized my mom may have said things like this before. It was a surprise, a new awareness. I began to examine my own attitudes. Did I grow up considering other ethnic groups as foreign, or worse, as something less than me? She may not have been guilty of prejudice, but was I?
This morning I read how God gave the apostle Peter the same dream three times before sending him to present the gospel to Gentiles. For Peter, a Jew, Gentiles were more than foreigners; they were considered an ‘unclean’ people. However, God told him that He accepted them and Peter must also.
When Peter obeyed, he told the Gentiles, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. . . . He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:34-36; 42-43).
Notice he said ‘every nation’ and ‘Lord of all’ and ‘everyone who believes.’ The Christian church is noted for reaching out to share the message of Christ to everyone. The gospel is made known by missionaries in many countries. At the same time, we need to beware of the sin of favoritism.
Sometimes it is a family thing like playing favorites with our children. We have favorite friends and favorite store clerks, favorite ‘types’ of people even. In the church it could be a special preacher or a favored teacher that gets our praise and attention more than others. It can also be racial prejudice and bigotry, both unacceptable in any circles.
I’ve heard that it stems from fear. If I examine my own heart I see another cause. Pride makes me put one person above another. Pride in my own preferences, pride in someone else who is like me in some way, pride that my skin is the color of choice, and so on. All of it is not only nonsense but sinful.
Paul warned that we are not to judge others. He said, “I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, ‘Do not go beyond what is written.’ Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Corinthians 4:6-7).
Favoritism happened to the Jews who knew they were God’s chosen people. They were special, but God told them He picked them not because they had merit but because He picks who He picks. This is also true of the Christian church. We did not earn or deserve God’s choice, but are in the kingdom by grace—His choice, not our merit.
I am what I am because of God, not anything I do. I’ve no right to be proud or to be prejudiced, to play favorites. Living in a city with many ethnic groups, I am tested often. I’m to be less inclined to notice ‘foreigners,’ more inclined to be like the One who ‘accepts people from every nation’—remembering that He also accepted even me.
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