Does God Really Like Me?

Everyone seems to know that God is a good God and that He is a loving God. Most people, even people who do not call themselves Christians, know the bible verse John 3:16 "for God so loved the world..." My whole life I have known that God was a good God and a loving God. I know that He loved me so much that He would send his only Son to pay my sin debt so that I could live forever with Him. But it wasn't until last week that I really found out that my relationship with God does not stop there. There’s more.

I was reading in Luke 15 about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy. This chapter reveals Jesus’ extreme emotional pain for "lost" sinners and the exhilaration He feels when "one sinner repents." I believe this reveals Jesus love for us. I know that I have lost things that were valuable to me. The moment I realized I had lost it, my stomach turned in knots, my heart sank, and my body became cold. I was so hurt by the loss that I began to cry.

Jesus tells these stories to us because we know what it’s like to loose something valuable to us. So valuable that we will stop what we are doing and go look for it. Like the shepherd who left the 99 to go looking for that one lost sheep we will stop everything to try to recover that lost item. The story goes a little deeper when Jesus describes His heart through a father’s loss of his son. I have heard, you do not know the pain of loss until you have lost a child. I have not had that experience, but I have heard from those that have, it is the most painful, heart breaking experience any person can go through. Jesus uses this illustration to show us his heart for people when they are lost or rebel.

When the son comes back there is great joy and celebration by the father. There are so many great analogies of the fathers love for his son in this story. The fact that this wealthy man ran to meet his sin. Back in those days it was very much undignified for a wealthy man to run. Especially to a rebellious son who wished he was dead and took half of his estate. Another is the father giving his son a robe, a ring, and sandals on his feet. These signified a welcome back to the family. The father was declaring the son to be back in the family with all the rights and perks that come from being his son. These three stories reveal Jesus heart for us, his love for us.

I have personally read and heard these stories preached from my youth. It was not until last week that I saw something I had never seen before. This is the fact that Jesus actually likes me! Now wait a second. Before you write this off as just a cheesy, simplistic, feel good massage, you need to hear me out. I have known for a long time that Jesus loves me; he has for given me of my sins, and has given me eternal life. But ever since being a christian I have dealt with feelings of failure and rejection by God over my sin. I would feel like I had in some way disappointed God by my sin and that he was not pleased with me. Therefore I would feel like God did not like me very much in those moments. This is true of our earthly relationships. How many people do you like that don't like you? You obviously like people who like you back. When people are mean to you or treat you bad in some way you don't like them. Therefore if I do not treat God well or if I am constantly disobedient then surly He does not "like me." I know He will never stop loving me; He is a good God, and a loving God. It is His nature to be good, loving, and forgiving, but He is in now way obligated to like me right?

All week while I was preparing to give a message on Jesus love for us from Luke 15, but all week God kept whispering in my hear, "I like you, and I like to be with you." I would say back to God, "I know God; I know that you love me." God would say back to me, "no, I do more than just love and forgive, I also just enjoy being with you." I replied with "I know God, I know that you love me, I can see from Luke 15 that your heart breaks for those who are lost and that there is celebration in heaven when one returns to you. So, I know that you love me. But as far as enjoy being with me, have you even seen what was in my mind this week? Did you hear what came out of my mouth yesterday? Have you seen the way I treat people? I don't read my bible every day, I don't share my faith often enough, I don't do a lot of things that you would have me do. So thanks for loving me and for being my God." God's response was, "why do you think there is celebration in heaven? If it was just a matter of getting one more for the kingdom then we would have just checked your name off of some list and called it a day. No! We celebrate because I get to spend eternity with you starting right now! I celebrate because I am excited about being with you. Look at the prodigal's father. He was a good, loving father but he didn't stop there. He celebrated because his lost son had returned and now he could be with his son again. Even in the midst of their celebrating the father noticed the elder son was missing. He left the party and looked for his older son. When he found him he pleaded with him to come be with him at the party. The fact is I am your father and I created you for my pleasure and that is exactly what you bring to me, pleasure. My love and Jesus shed blood covers your sins so now we can just be together and just do life together."

I had such a hard time believing that God actually liked me and wanted to be with me. All last week and this week that is all Jesus has been telling me, "I like you, I enjoy being with you, I want to mountain bike with you, I want to drive to work with you, I want to hangout with you and your family, I just want to be with you. Jesus made it possible and now we can just be together." When I fully came to realize this I came very close to shedding a tear. I don't usually cry at all so coming even close is a big deal for me. What a thought, Jesus, the son of God wants to hang out with me! Wow!

I guess it can be compared to my relationship with my daughter. It’s a fact that I love her. And because I love her I train her, discipline her, and forgive her when she disobeys. But our relationship goes far beyond that. I just enjoy being with her. I like just hanging out, going places and doing things with her. She and my wife left town for a week and all I wanted to do was be with them. I know that God feels the same way about me. He just wants to be with me. So the last couple of days have been revolutionary for me. I have spent my whole day with Jesus. This morning we went for a jog together. We talked as we went up and down hills and around the neighborhood. Then we went home to have breakfast with the family. After that we drove the motor cycle to work. I think Jesus just flew next to the motor cycle since there is not any room for him to sit on my seat:)

The amazing truth is, Jesus does more than love us, and He actually likes us and enjoys just being with us. The Christian life is more than trying not to sin or to measure up in some way to God's standard. It is all about just doing life with God. Walking with him step by step, Doing things together. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." When I am walking with God, he and I are just hanging out; I do not worry about not sinning. I just live. I encourage you to do just that. Live with Him!