Maybe Jesus addressed it best when He said, “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?” (Matt. 5:46-47) It is so easy to have a right attitude toward those who are kind to us. It’s so easy to be forgiving to those who treat us in godly ways. It’s just hard to deal with others without being partial.
It’s not hard for God. Moses described God saying, “The LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality” (Deut. 10:17). Peter said, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). Our God is not partial in any way to any group of people, “For there is no partiality with God” (Rom. 2:11). Look at it again—NO partiality. NONE!
We struggle with it. We know how to treat some people—those who are kind to us; those who are close friends; those who are “important.” Yet, Jesus is equally concerned with the “least of His brethren” as He is with the more “important” ones. The judgment scene of Matthew 25 emphasized this when Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40). If some brethren are sick, need our help or need visiting, we readily assist them. They may be our friends or close associates. We may think we are really practicing Christianity when we attend to their needs, carry food to them, phone them to see how they are doing, go to viewings or funerals of their family members or visit them when they are in the hospital. However, Jesus would ask us, “Do not even the tax collectors do so . . . What do you do more than others?”
The point I am trying to make is this. There are those “nice” Christians we really like and we treat them with tenderness. Then there are the others whom we tend to ignore. We struggle to phone them, to visit them, to assist them or spend time with them. It is true they may be obnoxious, lacking social skills, overbearing, negative or individuals with whom we have little in common. It is our reaction to these that is the measure of the depth of our spiritual growth.
Why not make a special effort to make a phone call, write a card, go out of your way at worship to talk to them or visit them? We must not be partial. Remember that Jesus is equally concerned about the least of His brethren!