Paul charges us repeatedly to give all people the same honor. In 1 Timothy 5:21 he adds, “I charge you …that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.” And Galatians 2:6 states that God, whom we are to be like, “shows personal favoritism to no man.”
That sometimes aggravates our human soul. We have our favorites, and we live with the intolerance to which our humanness leads us everyday. Prejudice is ingrained in our sin nature and can be based on anything, from the “wrong” brand of tennis shoes to the “wrong” skin color. We are warned against simply hiding our prejudices from public view and allowing them to fester in our hearts: “He will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality” (Job 13:10). Prejudice has no place in the life of the believer.
Bring prejudices and fears to the Lord today. He wants to purify our souls so that we can “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Pet 1:22).
