Playing Favorites, Part 1

“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.” –James 2:1

Yesterday we talked about how when we show favoritism, we give glory to certain humans rather than to Christ. Today and tomorrow, we will look at how others are affected when we play favorites. Today we’ll look at the person who is glorified, while tomorrow we will look at those who are dishonored.

We have a tendency to put people on a pedestal. I remember back when I was in high school, there was a huge debate started when former NBA star Charles Barkley declared that he was not a role model. The problem is that whether or not people are role models are generally not decided upon by their own actions, but rather by the people that look to them. In some ways, all of us are role models. We may not be good ones, but that doesn’t mean we don’t impact people in some way or another.

In the church, we may play favorites towards people who are successful, popular, rich, extremely gifted, good looking or many other reasons. So, when this happens, how does it negatively affect them? Often it is because we lead them to believe that they may be more important than other people. This is interesting, because people who have these ‘gifts’ or qualities about themselves often already struggle with pride. So, rather than them growing in their faith through using their gifts and resources as a tool, we hinder their growth by boosting their egos. Please understand that I am not recommending that we stop encouraging gifted people. But when it crosses over to playing favorites and only honoring the popular or the gifted, we run a great risk.

Playing favorites only fuels ‘superstar Christianity.’ It happens on both big stages and small stages. A prominent example from the big stage would be Ted Haggard, the former pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. About 2 years ago, he was removed from his position as a pastor after accusations of severe sexual immorality and drug use were found to be true. He was held on such a high pedestal that nobody thought he needed the accountability that other leaders practiced. Ultimately, he fell and took many with him.

Who do you hold on too high of a pedestal? It is ok to have role models and to look up to people. But when it comes to the point of favoritism, we are not doing them any favors. In fact, we may be setting them up for failure.