Who is God?

To make a solid connection with people, it’s easier when we know their character; to know their likes and dislikes. The same can be said for knowing God. So who is God?

God doesn’t have favourites.

Footy fever has hit the Sutherland Shire; Sutherland Sharkies winning the Premiership has been a long time coming. The sign on a Cronulla Church reading, “God doesn’t have favourites, but the sign guy does. Go Sharkies!”  Is my pick for most creative marketing.

This got me thinking about Favouritism, God doesn’t have favourites, but He does give His favour. Check out these passages of scripture,

God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism. Romans 2:7-11

“But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favour in the sight of the chief jailer.” Genesis 39:21

Favouritism: is the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another.

But what about favour? The dictionary definition is very similar to favouritism. Sometimes it means overgenerous preferential treatment, other times it means to show approval or preference for.

So how is it that God gives favour to some, but He doesn’t show favouritism?

It seems that God looks at the heart, and gives favour based on our spiritual condition. He doesn’t give favour based on race, economic status, colour or creed. So what’s the condition of our heart? From the above passage, those who seek truth, and persistently do good, he will give eternal life. That’s a HUGE favour! But for those who seek their own agenda, reject the truth, and follow evil will be rewarded with God’s wrath and anger. Yeah, I don’t want to be in that place.

It’s bad enough when I get in trouble from humans; those police sirens and lights in the rear vision mirror have my heart thumping out of my chest. Imagine being on the wrong side of God, who holds our eternal future in His hands?

So what’s truth? Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In the end, it’s all about Jesus.

Jesus didn’t care about the external appearances, in fact, he says many times that the dress we wear shouldn’t be showy or pretentious. That’s why he caused such a stir; He roasted the religious with their flowing robes and dignified the derelict with one touch. The Kingdom of God is an upside down world.

It makes me wonder how much time we spend on appearances, getting ready to go out, shopping for clothes, make up, hair, the gym. Is that time proportionate to tending to our spiritual state? Are we searching our heart for deceit, training our mind for good? If God doesn’t care about our outward adornment, then why should we?

^“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Why not try a little experiment? Try deliberately dressing in dirty clothes that are cheap and nasty, and then go out shopping. You are the same person on the inside, but people will treat you differently, you’ll be despised and possibly rejected.

Isn’t it great that unlike man, God isn’t fooled by these outward appearances? He sees through all that and looks at your heart toward him. Now that’s a comforting thought.

So when we’re meeting people, let’s not show favouritism based on Brand name clothes, colour of skin, or country of origin, but treat everyone with dignity. I like to see people as a big minefield. There may be a whole lot of crap to sift through to get to the gold! But let’s start digging for it- Some people may require a little extra drilling than others ;0

So after this little rant, I filled the car with fuel looking quite well-dressed. I was chatting with the attendant at the counter, and his throw away comment to me was,  “You look lovely in that dress.” Awww, that melted me. Just when you think you’ve got it all together 🙂

Feel free to join a discussion by giving your thoughts in the comments below!