Would Jesus Discriminate?

As I was driving to the local Wal-Mart this past weekend, I noticed a new billboard that asked, simply, "would Jesus discriminate?" Clearly we are supposed to have a gut reaction of "No! Of course not!" Indeed, this was my initial reaction, but very quickly I began to think about the word discriminate. While the word has gotten a bad rap lately, to discriminate is not necessarily a bad thing. All it really means -- and the Oxford English Dictionary backs me up on this one -- is to distinguish or differentiate between things. To say that I discriminate does not mean that I treat certain groups of people poorly. It could merely mean that I can tell the difference between apples and oranges.

Now, Jesus came to save the lost, correct? If He did not discriminate, there would be no difference between a murderer and a saint. Thus, no one would need to be saved. While I can't imagine Jesus discriminated between black and white or rich and poor, I'm certain he discriminated between good and evil as well as between repentant and unrepentant. If there were no discrimination -- no differentiating one from the other -- then what was the purpose of His coming?

So, in answer to the billboard's question. Yes! Most definitely, yes. Jesus would, and did, discriminate. And we are blessed because he did.