Act 10:34-35
“Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right”
Matthew 5:45
“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”
God is just and fair. It is an obvious conclusion that God does not have favourites but if we look at the Old Testament, we can see how God’s favour was more on certain people like Joseph and David. When we come to New Testament, we notice the evidence of Jesus being close to Peter, James and John. These three disciples seem to be his favourites. John also keeps describing himself in his gospel as the one whom Jesus loved. Does this mean that God has a special place for those who are after His own heart? That is right! God only looks at our heart and how true it is. We might be able to please people who will never know our inner secrets and the actual intentions of our outwardly behaviour but we can never fool God as he can look straight into our heart. The Bible also tells us that faith pleases God. If we believe we are children of God, we have faith and follow His commands then we are God’s favourites. Let us take a real-life scenario: Parents with more than one child have a favourite one among the lot. Even though no parent will agree and accept this fact, the one who is obedient is always on the favourite list. But that does not mean that the other child is loved any less.
Are all of us called to be a friend of God? —Yes! We are. But, are we all actually His friends? —Now that is the doubtful bit. There are certain conditions to fulfilled on our part to be friends of God even though the invitation to become God’s friend is open to all. The same thing applies to becoming God’s favourites. We don’t automatically qualify to become God’s favourites but there are things we need to do.
Let us look at the example of John; was Jesus showing favouritism to John over the others (who also had paid great price for following Jesus) by letting him lean on his bosom? Definitely not! The bosom of Jesus was open to all the disciples but only John understood the heart of Jesus and took advantage of the opportunity. The conclusion is that God does have favourites and He does not simply choose people but it is by our choice of believing in Him, following His word in our daily walk of life and becoming his true children that we become the privileged few in His favourite list.