Playing Favorites

 It’s obvious to anyone looking that those with power, clout, influence, or money are shown favoritism in this world. It could even be that you’re the son of someone powerful, and you get away with things that would have gotten an average Joe locked up for decades. When such blatant favoritism is exposed, the revulsion and disgust are universal regardless of political party.

Some years back, there was a scandal having to do with rich Hollywood types getting their less-than-intelligent children into Ivy League schools by means other than forthright and honest. They tried to defend their actions by saying they were motivated by love for their children, as though the poor kid who applied for the same spot and got rejected in lieu of the silver Spooner wasn’t loved by their parents, or their parents didn’t do their best for them.

You can try to spin it however you want. It was immoral and wrong and revealed the character of these vaunted has been starlets in far greater measure than any press release they might have conjured up trying to minimize the collateral damage.

It’s disgusting when the world shows favoritism, but by all accounts, it’s perfectly acceptable in the church. If you’ve ever watched a televised service by one of the top three megachurches, you see the famous people sitting up front, the cameras lazily panning to and fro, trying to catch a moment of euphoria as a reaction to the power of I am in sermon form. From actors to rappers to producers and musicians, they all get preferential treatment because of who they are in the eyes of the world and not who they are in the eyes of God.

In the eyes of God, the clout is irrelevant, the influence is irrelevant, and the fan base is irrelevant because all God looks upon is the heart and whether it’s surrendered, malleable, and obedient.

But you don’t get it; the star power draws people to Jesus. I must have missed that one in the gospel, according to John. Jesus says He will draw all men unto Himself, and He doesn’t need the assistance of someone who, a week after being filmed in the first-row pew, is accused of things that would make a masochist blush.

If anyone has ever uttered the words, ‘I came to Jesus because I saw Beyoncé in church,’ I’ve yet to hear them, but if, perchance, it did occur, check up on that person in a year and ask them where they are in their spiritual walk.

It’s a wicked kind of cruelty to prioritize one soul over another because of the clout they can bring you or because of what they can do for you. Even if that person is honest and sincere in their desire, eventually, they’ll be turned off altogether because they will feel used by the individual to whom they came for wisdom and guidance.

You’re not pointing the way to Jesus; you’re using someone’s pain and confusion to catapult yourself to renown. If you want examples, I’ve got them, but as intrepid as you are, I’m sure you can find a handful of those names for yourself.

Rather than lead such souls to rivers of living waters, they are kept dependent on the individual and their teaching because the intent isn’t to grow and mature someone; it’s to ensure the continuation of a newly minted piggy bank.

James 2:1-4, “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?”

James saw it coming from a mile away because he understood man’s propensity to show partiality toward those who could profit him in some form or fashion. Showing deference to someone esteemed in the eyes of others is a natural inclination, but one we must resist because God does not view man as we view men. He does not judge their garments or their fineries, nor does he judge their poverty and need. God judges the heart, and I’ve known well-to-do men with good hearts and poor men with evil hearts.

The wrapping may fool you until you open the box. Only then do you realize that the wrapping itself is irrelevant; it’s what’s inside that counts. It’s why if you have something expensive to ship, you don’t put it in an ornate, gilded box with gold embossing and bone inlay. The nicer the box looks on the outside, the greater the chances that it will never arrive at its destination. Someone will see the box and deduce that there’s something worth having inside. Your best bet is simple, basic cardboard, a box so common that no one will give it a second thought. People will look at it and conclude it’s not worth the time or the risk of taking it because what’s inside is likely worthless.

God sees all men as equal in value. Their possessions don’t make them worth more in His eyes, nor does their poverty make them worth less. The price Jesus paid was the same for everyone, across the board, regardless of their net worth, pedigree, or upbringing.

The promise we have is that if we believe in Him, we will not perish but have everlasting life: no addendums, no carveouts, no special exemptions. Believe, and you will be saved. Believe, and you will have eternal life.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.