We are called to learn to think like God. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, so we must aspire to God’s level. There is one specific way in which we need to come to think like God. This attribute is very different from how we naturally think, which is selfish. But it is beautiful, practical and something we can regularly practice in our interactions with others.

The Bible says a lot about this quality of God and how we should emulate Him. In Acts 10, a Gentile named Cornelius came to believe the gospel and was converted. God gave Peter a vision showing that He was calling this man. The Jews thought God loved them more than the Gentiles. Acts 10:34 says, “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” The New King James Version says,
“… In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.” This is what Peter came to understand—God doesn’t play favorites. He wants all people to be saved; all are made in God’s likeness and have the potential to develop the character of God.

Verse 35 says, “But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” TheRevised Standard Version says, “but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” God does not show favoritism! One paraphrase states:, “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open.” God isn’t impressed by someone’s looks, dress, haircut, personality, riches, talents or humor—He doesn’t judge by those standards. He is looking for people who fear Him and do what is right.

We don’t think that way! We naturally judge by surface-level things, not by character. People often judge others worse for doing what is right: They are just putting themselves above everybody else because they do things the right way. When you look at your peers, how wide is the gap between the way you see them and the way God sees them?

Deuteronomy 10:17-18 in a paraphrase translation says: “God, your God, is the God of all gods, he’s the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.” If you sin, it doesn’t matter your connections, God is going to judge you. This is a wonderful quality of God. He judges everyone by a perfect standard and looks on the heart. He is not distracted by so many of the things that we get hung up on. We should thank God for this quality and learn to think more like Him in this way.

Acts 10 shows who is acceptable to God. How do you choose whom you are close with? What are your priorities? Is it because that person fears God and does what is right? Do you try to look on their heart and evaluate their character? Or do you ignore certain people because of their quirks and superficial issues? This is a critically important question for you to ask yourself.

James 2:1 says, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” In the Revised Standard Version: “My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.”

Gerald Flurry writes in his book, The Epistle of James: “Sadly, this world is based on persons respecting persons. That partiality is the curse of mankind! It causes endless problems. People discriminate on the basis of wealth, privilege, sex, race, education, culture, talent—any number of things. I’m a good-looking person, and they’re ugly. I’ve got class, and they have none. I don’t like that person’s race.” Why is this our natural, carnal way of thinking? Because our human nature likes to put the self above other people. We want to feel superior, especially toward those who are different from us in some way. We focus on the things we can judge them for.

The natural tendency among people is to classify people by a social hierarchy. This tendency is rooted in pride, and we all need to guard against it.

Mr. Flurry continues, “Those problems are a direct result of a failure to understand God’s Family. God says the problems of the world will never be solved until we learn about family!” This is very deep, but also very simple. Evaluate yourself and how well you interact with your peers. Your mindset should reflect this God-Family understanding! “We must set an example for this hate-filled, divided world. In understanding God, we should show people how to unify the whole world as one man, with the mind of Christ! We must not forget our goal to bring the whole world into God’s Family!”

If you think that the classmate you’re struggling to get along with now is a challenge, think about the people you’ll be working with in the future. There are people a lot weirder than your weird classmate! James gets very practical in verses 2-4, essentially saying: “If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, ‘Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!’ and either ignore the street person or say, ‘Better sit here in the back row,’ haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?”

God warns us against judging by appearances and superficial things. Leviticus 19:15 says, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.” Don’t judge based on whether they are rich or poor. The poor in this world get preferential treatment, but all must be equal under the law.

Deuteronomy 1:17 says, “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.” Everyone should get equal treatment.

Proverbs 28:21 says, “To have respect of persons is not good: for a piece of bread that man will transgress.” If you start down the road of respecting persons, you’ll start making bad judgments over nothing. You will be able to be bribed with a piece of bread! Matthew Henry writes about this verse, “Judgment is perverted when any consideration of this kind is admitted into the scale, any thing but pure right.” Because of all the factors that can impact our judgement in a case, it would be easy to give someone preferential treatment in a way that has the effect of perverting a judgement.

This quality of God’s thinking is so unique to God and the Bible. There are elements in our judicial system that aim to recognize this principle. The statue outside the supreme court is holding balanced scales while blindfolded. The idea is that justice does not regard persons—whether the one being judged is highly regarded or looked down upon. Yet this equal justice under the law doesn’t happen because people don’t yield themselves to that standard the way that they should! The world is based on persons respecting persons—the curse of mankind.

How do you treat different people? Are there some you fawn over while others are ignored? This is the way the world operates. Mr. Flurry writes, “God’s Church must be different from the world. We must treat every person with the highest respect, not shutting anyone out of the Family of God. We even have to be careful to avoid favoring one minister over another.” You have to get God’s help to be able to change your way of thinking. Our tendency is to be partial and shut some out without taking a second thought. It can seem totally justified to us.

Mr. Flurry continues, “God’s people must be an example to the world of showing no partiality, and treating each member of Christ’s Body with honor. That way of life must begin within the Church, because God wants it to reach every corner of the world!”

This is the way God thinks and acts, and He wants all men to follow His example. We are the only ones today who have the opportunity to treat each other God’s way. This is an unbelievably precious responsibility we all have to make sure everyone is treated with honor. “The same principle applies in any family. Partiality creates family breakdown.” You can’t have a strong family unless everyone is treated with honor—everyone has to be on board and participate.

This biblical truth is why Rule 12 of the Imperial Academy Code of Conduct is: Do not save seats in the lunchroom. Think about this principle—who am I going to eat my meal with? Who am I going to fellowship with after services? Who am I going to spend time with? Having the mindset of not saving a seat for that one person applies to many situations.

Our human nature tends to be critical of others. Mr. Flurry writes in his book, How to Be an Overcomer, “Self-righteousness makes you a person without much compassion because you just can’t understand why people have so many faults. If you don’t look deep down and see your own problems, you are going to be very critical of other people. You will be a difficult person to get close to, because who wants to be put down all the time? … Here is a principle I hope you never forget: True righteousness never looks down on others. No matter who it is or how dirty the sinner is, true righteousness never looks down on the person. It hates the sin but loves the sinner.” 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that God’s love thinks no evil, believes all things, bares all things, rejoices in the truth.

James 2:5 says, “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” God has called a special group of people to be in His church, but according to the world, we are the poor. God judges very differently than man does, and we have to learn to see each other with His perspective.

Mr. Flurry writes about how the Laodiceans fell into these problems in The Epistle of James: “The people started to become partial: I like this person, I don’t like that person. God thunders to them, Don’t you realize you’rebreaking the law of love?” Christ regularly ate with publicans and sinners. He was meek and never felt like he was above them or too good to associate with them. The haughty said, You shouldn’t associate with those people! But Christ shed His blood for all men, and even prayed for those who were complicit in His execution!

Verse 8 says, “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:” That is the second great commandment. We have to aim for that every day—love others as we would love ourselves.

Verse 9 continues, “But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.” You can’t justify this mindset or think it is not a big deal—it is sin!

You have to see this the way God does: Respecting persons is the same as murder. Mr. Flurry writes, “You hate your brother when you are a respecter of persons, and that makes you guilty of murder.” We have to purge hatred from our hearts if we are to keep the royal law. Ask God to help you have a clean heart toward everyone.

James 3 talks about the importance of controlling your tongue. Verse 5 says, “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!”

Mr. Flurry writes, “Why is it so important that we learn to tame our tongues? Because we are preparing to teach every person who has ever lived. We need the mind of Christ to direct everything we say. Jesus Christ continually spoke uplifting words while He was here on Earth. With His mind in us, we can do the same! We must control our tongue, because we are destined to control the universe. Each of us must learn to exercise wisdom in this area. We must learn to say things that will encourage people and lift them up. When we fail to do that, we can easily beat people down.”

Verse 14-16 say, “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” Examine even if you have the bitter envy in your heart. Get rid of those negative feelings towards others.

James concludes the chapter by talking about the opposite qualities: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (verse 17-18).

Mr. Flurry continues, “If we speak words of wisdom, we bring joy and encouragement. … God’s wisdom is also without partiality. It is not swayed by self-interest, worldly honor or the fear of man.” No favoritism—that is God’s wisdom, and we need it!

Romans 12:9-10, 16 in the paraphrase version read: “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. … Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.” This is the way God thinks. We can all learn to think like Him in this specific way by showing no partiality.