God Likes Me

by Brandy Webb

I have turned another year older this week, and I hope that I am a wee bit wiser. When I get close to my birthday, I find myself contemplating the past year. To be honest, since my birthday falls very close to Unleavened Bread, I start introspection at Passover and continue it until my birthday. 

Well, this year I have been working on believing a truth: God likes me. I know for some this concept should be pretty easy. And since I am a Christian, it should be easy for me, also. However, I am not perfect, and it is hard to look beyond my imperfections, mistakes, selfishness, etc., and truly believe without a doubt that God likes me no matter what. Am I the only one that struggles with this? As human beings we have a saying, “I love that person, but I don’t like them.” However, God not only loves me, He likes me.

Sometimes for me, I get so wrapped up in what God doesn’t want and forget what God does want, which is for all of us to know that He likes us. It is so easy to point to all the negatives about ourselves and about the world around us and overlook the positives. God is all around us in everything. Creation proclaims His existence. This life isn’t all there is, and He wants us to be with Him for eternity. In fact, He loves and likes us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us, so that we could be forgiven of all of our sins and have eternal life (John 3:16). There is no greater love than this for one to lay down one’s life for someone else (John 15:13).

I realize that I need to focus a lot more on God’s love for me, so that I can start seeing myself through His eyes. I am far from perfect, but isn’t it our imperfection that makes us realize how much we need Him in our lives? God didn’t call the perfect and the wise, He called the foolish, the weak, the lowly, and despised, so that we can only boast in Him and not in ourselves (1 Corinthians 1:27-30). He is the one that creates in us a beautiful work of art, and He wants us to accept His love and affection.

I look to David for comfort when I start beating myself up for this or that. He is known as a “man after God’s own heart.” He made some horrible mistakes. However, what I believe is one of the reasons why he is called “a man after God’s own heart” is because of his willingness to confess his sins, to repent, to seek God with all of His heart, and to try his best to walk according to God’s Word. Isn’t that what God wants? He wants us to repent, to forgive ourselves, to trust that He has forgiven us, and to walk according to His Word. He doesn’t want us to keep rehashing our mistakes, to speak negatively of ourselves, to be despondent, and hopeless. We are to live lives of faith, the faith that we are forgiven, the faith full of hope of things unseen, and most importantly the faith that we are loved and liked. Then, in turn we project this love, forgiveness, and hope onto others.

Therefore, this year, I want to live a life that knows that I am loved and liked by the Creator of the universe. I want to then love and like others with this Holy Love, to let go of the past, to move forward with hope, and to be joyful always, no matter what.