It doesn’t have to be a religious song.
Which is your favorite?
Why is it your favorite?
Have you ever stopped to think why your favorite is your favorite? The question applies to anything for which you have a favorite: song, meal, actor, hobby, season of the year, etc.
Your favorite (anything) is your favorite because you like it the most. (Go ahead and chuckle. It may not be deeply profound, but it is true.)
Having a favorite in any category is about personal taste and personal preference. It is all about the things that appeal to you most. A favorite often involves your senses. Yet, a favorite might be appealing to you on an emotional or intellectual level.
I have been told that a parent should never have a favorite child, but should love each child equally. Yet, there is something about that statement that doesn’t work in real life. The statement ends correctly by advising you to love each child equally. Yet, for each one of my five daughters there are specific areas in which each is favored. In that, I am simply acknowledging that there are common preferences and common interests that draw me to each one, but those preferences and interests may be different for each daughter. The key is to not allow those preferences and interests to govern my love for any one of them over the others.
With that thought in mind, turn your attention to the Lord’s church. I think we all know and understand that personal favoritism has no place in the body of Christ. Yet, God did not leave it up to our human reasoning.
Why is it your favorite?
Have you ever stopped to think why your favorite is your favorite? The question applies to anything for which you have a favorite: song, meal, actor, hobby, season of the year, etc.
Your favorite (anything) is your favorite because you like it the most. (Go ahead and chuckle. It may not be deeply profound, but it is true.)
Having a favorite in any category is about personal taste and personal preference. It is all about the things that appeal to you most. A favorite often involves your senses. Yet, a favorite might be appealing to you on an emotional or intellectual level.
I have been told that a parent should never have a favorite child, but should love each child equally. Yet, there is something about that statement that doesn’t work in real life. The statement ends correctly by advising you to love each child equally. Yet, for each one of my five daughters there are specific areas in which each is favored. In that, I am simply acknowledging that there are common preferences and common interests that draw me to each one, but those preferences and interests may be different for each daughter. The key is to not allow those preferences and interests to govern my love for any one of them over the others.
With that thought in mind, turn your attention to the Lord’s church. I think we all know and understand that personal favoritism has no place in the body of Christ. Yet, God did not leave it up to our human reasoning.
Believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.—James 2:1 (NIV)
Favoritism, partiality, prejudice: Whatever wording us used, an attitude of favoritism has no place in the body of Christ. There is no mystery as to how God views partiality.
If you show favoritism, you sin…. (v. 9)We may have best friends. We may prefer one preacher over another, prefer one song leader over another, prefer one song over another. However, we must not allow our personal preferences to develop poor attitudes. We must not allow a preference of friends to generate a poor attitude toward other Christians. We must not allow our personal preferences to keep us from listening to the word of God regardless of who is preaching or teaching. Truth may be presented in a topical sermon or in a class in which passages of Scripture are examined carefully. We must not allow favoritism to form our attitude about the songs we sing in the assembly, or to affect how we think about prayers offered.
Favoritism is about your attitude. When favoritism is allowed to develop the way we value people we have sinned. When favoritism casts a dim shadow in our mind about the way things are organized or carried out by fellow Christians, we have sinned. If we find ourselves giving more thought to the pitch and tempo of the songs, the length of prayers, or mannerisms used by the preacher or teacher, instead of the content presented by each, we are listening to our fleshly preferences. Sin is near.
It is natural and proper to evaluate the way things are going in life, and that includes all things related to church life, even our weekly worship. However, we must evaluate with wisdom, with Bibles open, and not with attitudes of favoritism.
Mark Stinnett
March 3, 2024
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