No favourites here
I’m not one of those people who finds it very easy to say what my favourite of anything is. For me it depends very much on mood or occasion. It’s well-known that I enjoy eating cake – but my favourite?? Well, that depends. I have a particular like for vanilla slices, but I also like cream cakes, and lemon cake, and a nice cream tea, and…
We live in a competitive world. In the current job market, people are having to do what they can to persuade potential employers that they should be their favourite. I even see that the latest BBC Saturday night talent spot So you Think You Can Dance, says that you’re voting for your favourite dancer – not the best. So people can’t even rely on skill now, but the whim of the public.
Thank goodness then, that God doesn’t have favourites. God treats us all the same. One criteria is used across the board. God doesn’t judge us by a panel, phone votes, or knowing the right people in the right places. He can’t be canvassed, won over by cute smiles, sob stories, or how many friends we have who can spend the money on ringing in. God judges each and every one of us only by how we live and how we love – no more, no less.
Why does he do that? Because the costly sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross was made for each and every person in the world. No one more than any others, no one any less – it was for every one of us equally.
That is the only place where our hope lies – nothing else will hold any sway. When we stand before God, we are equal with royalty, celebrities, the most popular people, and those who no one has much time for.
Wow!
So how do we respond to that?
“Honour God while you live on earth”
Not from fear, not to try to win God over – Jesus has already done all that for us, but because how else do we respond to God who has done so much for us. How else do we respond to God’s love and acceptance of us – even us – me and you?
The life of humanity was going nowhere, and God has rescued it. In that we find faith and hope.
Thank you Lord
that you receive me.
That before you
I don’t have to fight for a place,
jostle for position,
or try to persuade you to love me.
Thank you
that you have no favourites.
Help me to honour you
that my life may reflect your gifts to me.
Pam's Perambulation 