Love without partiality, God's love

Numbers 34:16-29 (ESV)
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [17] "These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. [18] You shall take one chief from every tribe to divide the land for inheritance. [19] These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. [20] Of the tribe of the people of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. [21] Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. [22] Of the tribe of the people of Dan a chief, Bukki the son of Jogli. [23] Of the people of Joseph: of the tribe of the people of Manasseh a chief, Hanniel the son of Ephod. [24] And of the tribe of the people of Ephraim a chief, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. [25] Of the tribe of the people of Zebulun a chief, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. [26] Of the tribe of the people of Issachar a chief, Paltiel the son of Azzan. [27] And of the tribe of the people of Asher a chief, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. [28] Of the tribe of the people of Naphtali a chief, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. [29] These are the men whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel in the land of Canaan."

With Eleazar and Joshua overseeing the whole progress, the land of Canaan was to be divided by chief men chosen from each tribe of Israel. It must be noted here that these chiefs were hand-picked by God. Seeing as Caleb was included in this crowd, it appears that God chose faithful and godly men to do this work. These were those among their tribe who were wise enough to divide the land according to the clans in a peaceful manner, that there may not be strife or contentions. These were those who were not covetousness and were not greedy for gain, lest they accept bribes to give more land to one clan above the other. They were those who judged righteously, and soberly, not biased by their emotions or passions, lest they are partial in their distribution to the clans. They were people who would submit to the voice of God, and those who would not lean on their understanding, as lots were cast among the clans to divide land, just as the lot was cast for the tribes. They were people who were willing to divide the land exactly as God desired according to the results of the lots. These leaders were those who would not favor their own clans over others. They would not give a bigger portion to their own clan, because they are chief, but only divide according to God's commandment.

Likewise these are the kinds of leaders that are needed in this day and age: those who are impartial in judgment, those who submit to the word of God alone and not emotion, and those who despise personal gain. We need leaders who follow this verse:
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We need people who can discern between light and dark, good and evil, truth and lies. We need people who recognize that there can be no middle ground between these things. God's word has no grey area, and what He hates and what He loves are written in His word as clear as day. We need leaders chosen by God who know this, that truth always agrees with godliness:
Titus 1:1 (ESV)
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

We need people who are impartial because God shows no partiality in His judgments:
Romans 2:9-11 (ESV)
There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, [10] but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. [11] For God shows no partiality.
God's impartial nature was the reason why He had to send Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us. Without the cross, God could have never shown any favor on His elect. It is not that because we repented and believed that God forgave us, but because Jesus Christ died for our sins He forgave us. God never showed us compassion because we were from a Christian background or because we tried harder than other people. By no means. It was by God's grace. We were not any different from the unbelievers. We were as much evil, hard-hearted, unbelieving and proud as anyone in the world. But GOD gave us the gift of repentance and faith.

But why only to us, and not our neighbors? Because Jesus Christ died for us that we may repent and believe. And why did Christ do this for us? because we were more deserving of atonement than others? By no means. But grace has come to the utmost sinners because of God's own election. Why did God choose us? Because of anything we did for Him, or because we were great? No, but because He loved us:
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 (ESV)
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, [8] but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

God loves us and chosen us because He loved us. It was because He is love He chose us, that He may manifest His love to us underserving wretches. We who therefore have received this impartial love from God, who loved us without conditions, we are also to show impartial love to everyone:
James 2:1-9 (ESV)
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. [2] For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, [3] and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," [4] have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? [5] Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? [6] But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? [7] Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? [8] If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. [9] But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Just as God loved us whether we were poor, rich, good or bad, and died for our sins that we may not perish, we are also to love everyone as our own selves. Just as Jesus Christ loved us as His own self, and could not endure to see us go to hell, and took the wrath that was to fall upon us, we are to love similarly. We are to love not because of what they do for us or don't do for us, based on their performance, but because of God's love. We must be partial and blind when it comes to loving our neighbours. Even though the person is our enemy we love him, not because of the enemy's performance, but because of God's love shown to us. We are not looking at that person to love him, but we love him while looking at Jesus Christ, just as God loves us looking at Christ. God loves us because of Christ, and we also love everyone because of Christ.

Partiality in judgment can come about because of emotion or relying on one's own understanding, and not listening to the Word of God. Imagine if the chiefs ignored casting of lots and distributed the land based on what they felt or thought. No matter how much they believed that God gave them divine inspirations, they would be going against the Word of God, for He has already commanded that it should be divided by lot. But this is exactly what is happening in Christianity today. Professing Christians are not willing to bow down to Scripture, which contains everything that is necessary for the Christian life. They instead rely on their own feelings or their own understandings as better teachers. They establish a truth based on experience, not based on the testimony and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They trust in voices outside the scripture and follow them, believing that God has actually would speak more important things that which He has spoken through His own Son manifest in the flesh. Thus they become partial in their judgments, as their own opinions, ideas, agendas, passions and bias become mixed in the things they speak. They do not have the sober judgment that obeys the lots that have been cast in His scriptures. They don't coldly look into the word of God and simply speak what it plainly says. They water down the truth of God's word with the words and the commandments of men, and thus become lukewarm:
Revelation 3:15-16 (ESV)
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! [16] So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

These are those who look at the word of God and say, 'Yes, this is what the word says, but did God really mean what He said? There can be many interpretations to this verse; Whatever you take the verse to mean, it is!' These thus commit the same sins that Adam and Eve committed, questioning the words God has already spoken. It is as though the chiefs cast the lots but said 'How can we be sure that this is from God? Maybe it is just chance - let's just decide again for ourselves'. So likewise by doubting God's clear instructions in scripture, they choose to believe in their own minds instead. This is the tragic state of the modern Church.

We need leaders like Caleb, who care not for self-gain but only for fulfilling the word of God. Caleb, as chief of the tribe of Judah, and as probably the second most admired man in Israel after Joshua, could have probably chosen any piece of the land he wanted when he entered Canaan. But he insisted Joshua that he would take Hebron. Yes, Hebron was a great city, one of oldest metropolises in the region. But the problem was it was filled with the children of Anak, giants compared to whom the spies said Israelites were like grasshoppers. It would take a lot of effort to take this city. Indeed it would be impossible to take it without God's help. Caleb did not have to undertake such a difficult and bothersome task. As chief, he could have settled on the best piece of land that was easiest for him to take - and no one would have complained. But why did he insist on Hebron? Because it was the land that God promised to him in the past:
Numbers 14:24 (ESV)
But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
And forty-five years after this promise, he was still believing in this promise. And because he believed, God gave this city over to Caleb:
Joshua 14:10-14 (ESV)
And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. [11] I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. [12] So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said." [13] Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. [14] Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel.
Caleb was not going to take the easiest or the best piece of land that he wanted, but what he wanted was what God promised to him. What God had given to him, he desired to have. For that he was willing to walk the narrow and hard way. He denounced selfish and easy gain, and endured tough battle and labour to claim that God had given to him. He let his brethren instead to take the land that was already conquered, because he knew those lands were not the lot that had fallen to him and his house.

We need leaders like Caleb who despise self-glory, but work and war for the fulfilling of God's promises. And what is the greatest promise that God has given us? It is that whosoever believes in Jesus Christ shall not be condemned but have everlasting life. We need to fight for this promise, as Caleb did for the promise given to him. We must preach this promise to everyone, no matter how difficult the work is. See how aged Caleb was, yet because he believed in his God, this old man could destroy a city of giants. Let us, like him, fix our gaze wholeheartedly upon the promise and the word of God, believing that what He has promised, He can deliver, though we are nothing. Let us pray for like hearts in all believers.