We like to have favorites. We have favorite socks, favorite flavors of ice cream, favorite pets, favorite colors, and more. Once we have identified our “favorites,” we usually change our behavior to favor those things. For this reason, God often does things that we have a hard time understanding.

God has only one clear favorite. Himself. He loves Himself and seeks to glorify Himself over everything else. If we want to zoom in and look into the inner working of the Trinity, we find that this expresses itself in the Father loving to glorify the Son, the Son loving to glorify the Father, and the Spirit loving to magnify the work of the Father by drawing attention to the Son. It’s a fascinating relationship that has existed in perfect happiness for all eternity. Then, with the coming of space, time, and matter in Creation – a universe of created things entered into the equation. Amazingly, God even created a creature to bear His own image. And it would surprise me if Adam and Even, in the years following the Fall, didn’t look at each other at least once and wonder which one was God’s favorite.

Here is the amazing reality of God’s relationship with His creatures: God is impartial. His impartiality is first seen in His justice. This was illustrated on Sunday in the way in which Jesus did not excuse the guilt of the woman caught in adultery, nor did He excuse the hypocrisy and legally deficient charges of the Scribes and Pharisee. God does not extend special benefits to the rich, or the poor, to those we would call “privileged” today, or those we would consider “marginalized.” He has one standard. One law. As Paul reminded both the Jews and the Gentiles in Romans 2:11, there is no partiality with God in condemning the sins of all.

We like the idea of justice being blind until we come to realize we are guilty and would rather not face the punishment we justly deserve. Then we want some flexibility. We want certain factors taken into account. But such flexibility does not exist in God.

This is where, surprisingly enough, good news comes into play. The same God who is impartial in His justice, is equally impartial in His grace. He sent His Son Jesus to die, not just for the outwardly righteous, but for the repulsively wicked. He draws those who elicit our compassion, and those who elicit our disgust. He does this without taking into account any motivation other than His desire to glorify Himself through the salvation of undeserving sinners. It is not on the basis of deeds which we have done, but according to His mercy (Titus 3:5). This humbling reality requires that we have complete gratitude unmixed with ego or pride. It also has implications for how we relate to others.

James 2:1 commands us not to hold our faith in Jesus Christ with an attitude of favoritism. Those who have been impartially shown grace must be those who impartially show grace. We cannot understand the Gospel and create a church culture that knowingly excludes those who don’t fit the dominant socio-economic and ethnic population of our area. We cannot preach Jesus to our children but show extra favor to that child whose personality we find most enjoyable. We cannot bear the name of Jesus in the workplace, but only give our best to the bosses who treat us well.

Those who have escaped the impartiality of justice by fleeing across the bridge of the impartiality of grace are compelled to imitate that grace. We can still have our favorite pair of socks. When it comes to persons, however, our favorite must be Jesus – and we must be like Him.