My son asked me to pick up a library book for him last week for his social studies class assignment. I am an absolute history LOVER. If I could plan my dream vacation, I would make the theme around some locations in which the history of our country happened on a grand scale. I guess my love of history can be summed up as a study of human reactions to circumstances. I love trying to understand why people did what they did in a particular circumstance.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that the book my son was assigned to read was called, They Called Themselves the K.K.K. The cover of the book had a menacing picture of the white sheet hood that a Ku Klux Klan member would hide behind as he went out at night to commit atrocities against African Americans. The stories the book revealed made my blood run cold. Horrible, unimaginable acts were done with no hope of justice for the victims of this vicious group.
As I was reading the book, the Lord seemed to tell me again through those awful stories why His Word declares His hatred regarding favoritism that we human beings are so prone to display. We love people like us. We love people who look like us, smell like us, act like us, spend free time like us, and we tend to stay away from those who don’t.
I wanted to share a lesson that the Lord taught me in a culture that could not have been more different than mine. This situation was one in which I was desperate. Favoritism can rob us of seeing some of the best sides of our awesome God if we are not intentional about rooting it out.
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
James 2:1-5 (ESV)
