Favoritism With God?
A Look At Christian Elitism
I’ve come to realize that all the years I stood by and agreed that there was such a thing as “a dead church” or a “nominal Christian,” I was buying into the concept of a Christian caste system that does not actually exist in God’s Kingdom.
Either you are a Christian or you are not.
I’m not suggesting that churches and Christians cannot become apostate. However, there’s no room to say that one group of believers has more power, more insight, more favor, or more of the Holy Spirit than another.
God has given all of the redeemed His Spirit and revelation equally. Fully.
So, while I appreciate the boldness that it takes to call out folks for being in danger of shipwrecking their faith & becoming apostates, I don’t appreciate the audacity it takes to say that a fellow blood-bought believer is less-than.
Expressions of faith might look different & people might disagree on points of doctrine. Fellow believers can be in very different places in the process of sanctification & their level of knowledge about scripture. But…
We have to stop calling that church downtown dead, because they don’t believe in modern-day glossolalia or a second blessing experience.
We have to stop calling the brother who sits on the back pew less-than because he hasn’t shown his face in church since the last holiday service.
Jesus doesn’t have besties who get secret downloads the rest of us aren’t privy to. (If He did, we would still be adding sections to the Bible.)
There is no favoritism with God.
Despite any of our differences, we have to stop acting like there are levels of achievement in Christianity, because Jesus is the only Achiever among us- lest any man should boast.
Where Is This In Scripture?
A good portion of Scripture to reflect on in this vein are the closing thoughts of the book of Ephesians. We are reminded of our unity in Christ and our calling to bear with one another and build one another up.
