"My brothers and sisters, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So treat everyone the same. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes. And suppose a poor man in dirty old clothes also comes in. 3 Would you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes? Would you say, “Here’s a good seat for you”? Would you say to the poor man, “You stand there”? Or “Sit on the floor by my feet”? 4 If you would, aren’t you treating some people better than others? Aren’t you like judges who have evil thoughts?" -James 2:1-4 NIRV
My best friend and I have been inseparable since the kindergarten glory days. But 3rd grade in particular was a really solid year for us. A specific third grade teacher tried to break up our friendship, which I'm convinced was out of pure jealousy. We always sat together at the front of class because that was our spot. We were those kiss-up students who helped the teacher grade papers and pretend to be teacher assistants. Clearly the cool kids. But one day the teacher said everyone had to move their desks and sit next to someone new.
"What? Ew. No."
The teacher told us we were both playing favorites and that everyone deserved to sit at the front. But why fix what's not broken? We got a good thing going here. Me and my bestie sit at the front and control all that is 3rd grade politics, and the rest of the peasants can sit in the back and be squatters. It made complete sense to us. We had the feather pins after all.
But the next week we all moved seats and I sat next to someone new and quickly got to know people I didn't even know were in my class.
I stopped playing favorites and started playing fair.
How often do we treat people unfavorably based on their lack of credibility with us? Those with more money, status, or "cool factor" are often on the top picks for party invites or spots at the front of the classroom. But those we are unfamiliar with, the unpopular, the people interested in different things, we simply avoid in order to attend to our primary friend circle, our comfort zone.
But continuing through James, the Bible tells us that those unfavorable in our eyes are rich in the eyes of God:
"My dear brothers and sisters, listen to me. Hasn’t God chosen those who are poor in the world’s eyes to be rich in faith? Hasn’t he chosen them to receive the kingdom? Hasn’t he promised it to those who love him? 6 But you have disrespected poor people. Aren’t rich people taking advantage of you? Aren’t they dragging you into court? 7 Aren’t they speaking evil things against the worthy name of Jesus? Remember, you belong to him." James 2:5-7 NIRV
When we drop the stigmas of popularity, and reach out to those not in our Best Friends list on SnacpChat, we honor God's Kingdom by treating all His children the same. The Lord sees His children without a lens of favoritism, so who are we to pick favorites among them? Every human to walk this earth is a special creation, a complete miracle by worldly standards and a work of art derived from the heart of God. When we see people this way we are removing our own agendas and chasing a life after God's own heart. God.