All these years on I’ve been deceived by the
concept that I try to treat my friends equally. I don’t. Favouritism occurs in
all relationship networks, be it in a family setting, the workplace or within a
group of friends. There’s no point conning yourself that you treat all members
in the same manner.
In fact,
the only person I can think of who can profess to treat everyone equally, is
Jesus Christ, through his agape love for mankind, as long as they are willing
to accept salvation. Equal treatment of all is an ideal goal that we strive for
in Christian conduct, though in reality due to the issue of preferences and
affinity, there will definitely be some whom we favour more than others.
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your
neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in
heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on
the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will
you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your
own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore,
as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew
5:43-48 (NIV)
That doesn’t
mean I condone favourtism. However when the element of uniqueness enters the fray of "favourtism", we may start to re-think whether how we treat other is indeed favouritism in its most blatant form, or whether it is something else. Actually when we examine the passage above, we
notice two points. Firstly, Jesus tells us to love everyone, even our enemies.
However He does not mention anything about the quantity. I’d like to go on to postulate that Jesus was
much more concerned with the quality of love we show others. In other parts of
the Bible, there are numerous verses mentioning about the uniqueness of each
human beings. Maybe God wants us to do it to learn how to love each person in a
unique way that gives recognition and respect to that person’s godly characteristics.
This may be the true “equal treatment” of mankind in His eyes.
