Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “The Stranger in Your Gates”. A good lesson on how God views us all. And how we are to view everyone. Without partiality. “He (God) will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality” (Job 13:10). Wow! God will rebuke, because you will be just thinking partiality and then acting secretly upon it. Partiality is foreign to our God of love who loves all His children. He is perfectly impartial (not favoring one over another). We are not to show “partiality to the rich over the poor” (quarterly for Thursday). We are not to show partiality to the poor “You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute” (Exodus 23:3); nor are we to show partiality to the righteous or even show partiality to the wicked “It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, or to overthrow the righteous in judgment”. (Proverbs 18:5). But we are to be like our Father. “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).
God loves all and treats each one of us in the way best designed to reach each. Even immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve, God “cursed the ground for your sake” (Genesis 3:17). This cursing is not the words and actions of a retributive and exacting judge but the words and actions of a loving Father. This understanding of God is so pivotal. Throughout all recorded history this understanding of God is what changes people… converts people. Peter’s conversion is a case-in-point. In Acts we find recorded his conversion.
You all remember the story. Cornelius, a righteous Roman, sought to meet Peter. But like circumcision, the tradition of the Jews had colored Peter’s understanding. The prejudice at stake this time regarded Jews meeting with Gentiles. A real “no-no” according to tradition (see Acts 10:28, Acts 11:3, John 18: 28, Galatians 2:12). So a dream, a vision, was granted Peter. A vision of a net full of unclean animals descending from heaven accompanied by a voice from heaven telling him to “rise, Peter, kill and eat” (Acts 11:3). Peter denies this injunction. So it is repeated a total of three times. Peter awakens to the sound of Cornelius’ representatives at the door asking for an audience with him. Peter saw the connection between the vision and the invitation. And he unashamedly admitted this later to Cornelius saying, “In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). Exactly!
God is not a god who pays-back the wicked and rewards the righteous. He is perfectly impartial, giving to all the love that they need, not necessarily the love that they want. And the fact that we are all sinners is evidence of this truth. We are all fallen… everyone. And He gives to each precisely the love each needs. For some it is soft love; for others it is tough love. For some it is gratifying their desires; for others it is frustrating their desires. And this love can be all shades in-between the extremes. Love precisely catered to our individual needs. God does not come collectively to save all of us. He comes individually to save each of us. Just as you would expect from a perfect parent.
Have we ever “secretly shown partiality” (quoted earlier)? Have we stated openly or implied covertly that our Father is a stern retributive judge? Have we even undermined God’s reputation as Moses did when he struck the rock the second time on the borders of Canaan (Numbers 20: 1-12). Moses undermined God’s reputation before the people that day and did not “hallow (God) in the sight of the Children of Israel” (verse 12). Have we misinterpreted God to those around us as did the Jews (see Romans 2: 17-24) thereby blaspheming Him (verse 24)? Have we showed God to be partial between Jew/Gentile, male/female, slave/free, saint/sinner… “for there is no partiality with God” (Romans 2:11)? Let us not depict God as a god whose justice is retributive (to pay back kind-for-kind) but as He is. A God whose justice is distributive (to give out according to need). Let us not blaspheme God before the Gentiles (those who know Him not), those who are “aliens from the commonwealth of (His true) Israel” (Ephesians 2:12). “I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice doing nothing with partiality” (1 Timothy 3:21). For “the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). Amen! May it be so in my life and yours!
With brotherly love,
Jim