God hates partiality! It contradicts His nature, and therefore, opposes what He wants to work in us. In the final analysis, partiality and sowing discord don’t have much to distinguish them. So, where God wants to produce loving, considerate unity, we introduce impartiality.
Partiality and Judging
I will admit that my smile is often strained as I experience life’s storms and tempests. Too frequently I forget that Christ and I travel in the same boat. Too often I have Peter’s distracted focus, absorbed by the tumultuous goings-on around me, rather than consciously confiding in the Sovereign One with whom I ride. I don’t know what storms you’re struggling through. So let me categorize some of the tempests that assail us in my day.
Jesus Manifests His Sovereignty
This lesson puts a premium on standing alone. Standing alone is the noble, godly, strong thing to do. Sometimes. Other times it is the ignoble, unrighteous, dangerous thing to do. When are those dangerous times?
“The Lord, He Is the God”
These traditions were (at least originally) intended to maintain or gain favor with God and/or man. Thus many of these traditions may not have been wrong. But by the time we make their acquaintance in the Gospels, these traditions had become dangerous. So we need to ask ourselves what makes a tradition dangerous.
Jesus and the Jewish Traditions
By the time Jesus arrived, hope was gone for seeing Lazarus again in this life. After all, his body was already decaying. How can you possibly hope anymore at that stage? But into this decomposing, hopeless situation Jesus inserts a new dimension: Himself! No matter how beyond-hope a matter may seem, Jesus can bring life. So hang on to your faith in Jesus and never give up hope, no matter how realistically hopeless everything may seem.
Jesus Manifests His Deity