His Favorite One

I am God's favorite.

And so are you.

In John 14, the apostle quotes Jesus as saying, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you," which means that Jesus loves us with the same love that the Father has for Him. There is no higher love than this. And He loves each of us this way. Which means, we are each His favorite.

So go on and celebrate, because YOU are His favorite!

You know, He really likes you. Yes, He loves you, but He really enjoys you too. He created each of us uniquely, and He gave each of us individual personalities, no two of which are alike. You are special (no air quotes added!). You are the apple of His eye. His desire is for you! And even in your immaturity and your weakness, He still likes you. He still enjoys you. He knows absolutely everything about you, all your character flaws, all your little secrets, all your bad habits, all your past, present and future sins, and He still wants to be with you! And actually, grabbing hold of that revelation can transform the way that you think about Him and change the way you relate to Him.

But there is something else that has hit me recently which is beginning to alter my perspective of others, and that is that this person I am talking to, this person who is standing in front of me, this person who keeps calling me even though I don't really want to speak to them, this person whose personality absolutely annoys me, this person who has really hurt me, this person who (fill in the blank), is His favorite one. He really loves this person. He made them unique. They are the apple of His eye. His desire is for them. Yes, they have weaknesses, character flaws, secrets, bad habits, sins, etc. as well, but He LOVES them with an everlasting love and He GAVE the life of His Son for them. And that revelation changes the way that I see them and therefore the way I interact with them.

In the parable of the Pearl of Great Price Jesus likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. That pearl of great price is you. But it is also that other person, that person whose laughter grates on your nerves, that person you keep avoiding, that person who continually asks you to do things for them, that person whose name you cannot even mention because of the pain it causes. Yeah, it's that person as well.

So if He loves them this way, if Jesus loves this person with the same love the Father has for Jesus, and we take hold of that revelation, what should our response be? How are we supposed to love them? If we look at this person and say to ourselves, "This is God's favorite one" (because that is what He thinks of them!) it should certainly affect our attitude towards them and change what we think of them and how we behave towards them. To look at others through the lens of the love of Jesus, the same love the Father has for Him, will, if we let it, undoubtedly alter how we see each other and how we treat each other, and we will begin to grow closer to the reality of showing that we are His disciples because we love one another.