No Spiritual Pecking Order

December 3

Perhaps in your field of endeavor there is a ‘pecking order.’ The most discernable evidence of such will be the salaries of the individuals employed at your place of work. The CEO or the superintendent or the president or the manager will be paid more than the lower echelon employees.

If you are one of the ‘underlings,’ you probably don’t even know what your upper management officials make. Although you’re probably convinced that they’re out of touch with the nuts and bolts of what keeps the wheels of the organization turning and the importance of the ordinary folk who keep them greased, you know in spite of that, they make way more than you do!

Sometimes there is even a pecking order in families. Some members seem to ‘click’ while others are like the poor child at the candy store who can only stand outside with his nose pressed against the glass. Some people have a knack for making friendships while others lack the social skills that are required to attract and maintain friendships.

As the old saying goes, ‘Life ain’t fair. Get over it.’ But, in spite of the discrepancies that abound everywhere you turn—at work, at home, and in virtually every area of interaction with other individuals, there is one place where you will find absolute equity; and that is with God. He has no favorites.

The Word states very clearly, “He is no respecter of persons,” Acts 10:34. He has given His gifts, including the gift of His indwelling Holy Spirit, to all men equally. In Matthew 5:45, Jesus Himself says that “He causes the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust; He allows His sun to shine on the just and on the unjust.” His provision is available to all men without regard to their status or their abilities or their worthiness to receive them.

In the spiritual realm, He values every individual’s contribution to the furtherance of the Kingdom of Christ. Whether you’re Billy Graham or an obscure usher at the corner church, He values you. In I Corinthians 3:8, we’re told, “The one who plants and the one who waters are equal; each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

There is no vying for favor, and no need to impress the Boss. He has no pecking order that promotes one above another; He simply requires each believer to do what he has been called to do in the field to which he has been called to serve. As Luke 3:17 says, “His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

The one who has turned his back on Christ will be without reward, but all who have faithfully served in the place where they have been called will find their reward to be great when they hear the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” Matthew 25:21.