The Sin of Favoritism

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.” James 2:1

There is a tremendous passage in the Bible written by James, the brother of Jesus, which deals with the problem of prejudice. In this particular case, James wrote about the prejudice of affluence and achievement; but what James said to the Church applies to all types of prejudice and racism.

Whether you are a believer in Jesus or not, racism, prejudice, and favoritism are wrong. They are especially wrong for people who claim they are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Two things cannot coexist in the same heart – redemption and racism. Real faith evaluates all people by what is on the inside, not by what is on the outside. In today’s key verse, the word for “favoritism” is a combination of two words. One word means “face,” and the other word means “to hold or to grab.” It literally means, “to take hold of a person’s face.” So favoritism is when we judge someone strictly based on what we see on the outside. Whenever we do this, it causes a misjudgment because it is impossible to know who someone is based solely on outward appearance.

It is wrong to judge people based on any external factor whether it be the way they dress, whether they have tattoos, or especially the color of their skin. Genetic research shows that the races are actually not as different as we think. What we call “racial characteristics” are only minor variations among all people groups. If you were to take any two people anywhere in the world, scientists have found that the basic genetic differences between those two people would typically be around 0.2%. These “racial” characteristics that we think are major differences account for only .012% of human biological variation. We now know that all human DNA is 99.9% identical.

To put it simply, to distinguish or discriminate among groups of people on the basis of race is not just spiritually wrong, it is scientifically dumb. There is no scientific or physiological reason to distinguish between anyone just on the basis of the color of his skin. The Bible says in Acts 17:26, “From one man God made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth.” The truth is that we all come from one man and his name is Adam. We all need to give our hearts to the God-man named Jesus Christ. We must choose to see one another as God does…as sinners in need of a Savior.

Dear Lord, how grateful I am that you didn't show favoritism when you died on the cross. You extend your free gift of salvation to all people, and so I want to follow your lead and not show favoritism either. Help me to love all people, not just those who are like me or who are easy to love. In Jesus' name, amen.