Don't Play Favorites

I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. 1 Timothy 5:21 TNIV

I took one of my teens to the doctor this week seeking relief from the latest strain of "the crud". We sat in the waiting room for more than an hour beyond our 2:00pm appointment time. Though we desperately tried to shield ourselves from the hacking, wheezing, whining hoard, we found there was no escape. I approached the receptionist's desk, asking if we could expect to be seen soon, or did we have time to take in a matinee? She sweetly apologized for our long wait, and told me it would only be a few minutes more.

After the visit, we returned to the receptionist to take care of our copay. The person in line in front of us was a petite young Hispanic woman carrying an obviously ill toddler, wrapped in a shabby blanket. As she drew close to the office window, she got an earful from the receptionist (remember the one who was so nice earlier?) "I TOLD you to go to the emergency room!" she bellowed. The woman's response indicated she spoke little or no English. Again, in an even louder tone, the receptionist shouted "I TOLD you...GO to the EMERGENCY ROOM!" as if her rising volume level would some how turn up the woman's understanding. Confused and embarrassed, the woman stepped aside so I could check out. When the receptionist saw me, she instantly became the sweet person I had talked to earlier. "Thank you, Mrs. Oden" she said with saccharin sweetness. I paid my bill, and headed toward the parking lot, stunned at the partiality the receptionist had shown to me, the 40 something white lady with insurance. All the way home, I wished I'd had some guilt-inducing comment at the ready for the unkind way she had treated that young mother.

God is not a fan of partiality. All people are fashioned in the image and likeness of God, and none is less valuable than another. The incident at the doctor's office provided a powerful lesson to my teenager: what NOT to do. Can you think of incidents where you have treated someone unkindly because of the color of their skin, their handicap, or economic status? In our verse today, we're told to "do nothing out of favoritism". As we go to worship this weekend, let's commit to treat ALL people, especially those who are different from us, with the love and respect they deserve.

Prayer for Today: Father, help me to see people as YOU see them. Help me not to extend kindness or favoritism to people because they are influential, wealthy, or powerful. Help me to love, honor, and prefer others, without partiality, as You have commanded. In Christ's Name, I pray. Amen.

Tradition

And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! Mark 7:9 NIV

We have many traditions in our house. They're woven into the fabric of our family. Our traditions are part of what makes us....us. Yesterday was my youngest son's 14th birthday. According to our family's tradition, his gifts were wrapped in brightly colored paper, arranged on the buffet in the dining room when he woke up. And, according to our custom, the birthday boy chose what we would have for dinner and the kind of cake and ice cream we would serve. Last night, after dinner, we lit the candles on the cake and sang an off-key rendition of Happy Birthday. We're a very musical family, but it's more fun to sing badly! Next, everyone ran outside for the traditional Silly String firing squad. A guest, singled out by the birthday person, is given a hockey mask, and told not to run away while 7 or 8 people shoot him with entire cans of Silly String. (Sorry, Cameron) The resulting mess looks like....clown barf? Tradition!

Traditions can add meaning, purpose, and joy to our lives. But is tradition always a good thing? In this verse from Mark's gospel, Jesus tells the religious leaders of the day that honoring their traditions above God's law had caused them to do the ritual things, and abandon the right things. They washed their hands with great pomp and ceremony, but failed to honor their parents as God had commanded. Somehow, along the way, their traditions stopped being a way to worship, and became the object of their worship.

"Well, that was a long time ago", you say. "We don't do that in modern times." Oh, really? Can our places of worship become the object of worship? I once attended a church that refused to allow snacks and drinks to be served in the children's areas, fearing the new carpet would be damaged. Preschoolers were expected to stay in those rooms during Sunday service for over 2 1/2 hours without drinks or snacks, so the building could be preserved! Buildings created for the worship of God had become more important than worship itself! I'm pretty sure God was more interested in the hearts of those children than the halls of the building. Do we care more about spotless hearts than spotless floors? Is feeding the hungry more important than our pot luck fellowships? Do we care more about obeying God's commands than preserving our traditions? In the words of Matt Casper in Jim and Casper Go to Church, "Is this what Jesus told you guys to do?" Maybe that question is a good litmus test for evaluating our lives and our ministries.

Prayer for today: Father, help us to always exalt your word above our traditions. May our plans, programs and pursuits accomplish Your plans and not our own. In Jesus Name, Amen.