I’m God’s Favorite!

Have you ever thought about how madly in love God is with you? He created you for His purpose and His pleasure. Phil. 2:13. In Ephesians 2:10, we learn that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” God has ordained His plan for our lives before we were born. Even before we were conceived, God knew us, loved us, and had a plan for us. I’d like to talk about that in this post.

It’d be easy to dismiss how much God loves us. Oftentimes, we don’t really think about all He does for us each and every day. In Hebrews 1:3, we learn that He upholds “all things by the word of his power”. In other words, for this moment to even exist is made possible by Him and Him alone. Without God giving life and breath, there would be no life nor breath. Please understand: Life is not the natural state of things nor is death; rather, nothingness and non-existence are what would exist without God. As the Psalmist said, “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.” Ps. 139:8, NKJK. Even hell would not exist if God didn’t hold it together. That hell exists demonstrates God’s great love, even for those who hate Him. Amazing!

As the Apostle John said, “God is love.” 1 Jn. 4:8. He cannot be anything else. His very nature is pure and perfect love incarnate. Without God, there can be no love, for love is of God and love was created by God; it flows from His very being, for God is love. That’s the ultimate expression of who God is — love, pure love, perfect love. God’s love is so amazing that He allows us to partake of it without even knowing it. As the Apostle John understood and shared, “We love because he first loved us.” 1 Jn. 4:19, ESV. There can be no love without God, for God is love; love flows from His being and enables us to love.

Similarly, life cannot exist without God. God is the author of life. In Acts 3:15, NIV, Jesus, in the Apostle Peter’s great sermon on the day of Pentecost, is called, “the author of life”. Jesus created life and all life exists because of Him and life exists to serve Him. So amazing was the sight of God’s life flowing through Jesus Christ that years later the Apostle John described what it was like to be with Christ: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life”. Life, eternal life, flowed from Jesus, for He is the incarnation of life itself. Without Him, there could be no life. That life exists is a testament to Him.

Why have I shared all this with you? Because I want you to know that you are not random. God created you from the moment you were conceived. He loved you before you were born. He foresaw your existence before you existed. And He prepared everything around you for your existence. All the things in life you take for granted were granted to you by Him. As the scripture says, “All things are yours”. 1 Cor. 3:21, NIV. That’s why the great apostle, Paul, asks us, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Rom. 8:32. In truth, we fight, battle, and war to get what our Father has already given to us. Do you see the futility of mankind’s understanding without God? We fight to get what He has already given and, in the process, demonstrate our lack of understanding of who He is and who we are.

Please understand: You are the pinnacle of God’s creation. When God created you, He created nothing higher than you. There’s no greater creation than mankind. Nothing and no one else was created after mankind. Creation ended with mankind. When God formed and created man, He created man in His image. When you see others, you are seeing the image of God, albeit broken and shattered in a world consumed and riddled by sin. Mankind’s sin perverted and corrupted God’s image in mankind. That’s how men can think they come from apes — their minds have been corrupted. Sin, similar to a computer virus, has eaten and corrupted God’s code (we call it DNA) written in mankind. Your very DNA establishes your identity as being created by Him in His image and likeness. You were born to be in God’s image, as am I, as is every other single person on earth.

I find it interesting how many people miss what Jesus actually said when He said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Matt. 22:21, NKJV. Oftentimes, people think Jesus was talking about paying taxes. In fact, some people use that to coerce others into paying taxes. But Jesus wasn’t talking about taxes. No, He was using taxes as a typology to show us why we should seek to give God what is His — Us. We pay taxes because we honor the authority of those who collect taxes and we fear them if we don’t pay taxes, for they can exercise the authority given to them by God to punish non tax payers. Yet, we fail to honor God by giving Him what He’s due — us — for we are created in His image to express His likeness. You were fashioned to carry God’s image and God’s glory.

What does that mean? It means God sees who He created you to be. When He looks at you, His heart starts rejoicing. In fact, He dances “over you with singing.” Zep. 3:17, NKJV. Why does God sing and dance over us? Because He sees who we were and are created to be. When God looks at you, He sees His perfection in you. Not that God ignores our sin, He doesn’t; rather, He paid the price for our sin to redeem us from sin. In other words, when Jesus’s blood is applied to our lives, the code that was corrupted by sin is rewritten to remove that corruption from us. What is God waiting for? You. Me? Yes, you. He’s waiting for you to receive the solution He’s provide, the price for your sin, the precious blood of Christ. Your salvation has come. Your redeemer has come. The corruption caused by sin can now be removed from your life. That’s salvation!

The writer to Hebrews asks this question: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him”? Heb. 2:3. It would be easy to miss what the writer of Hebrews says, our salvation is a great salvation. It’s not just good (which certain acts of creation were called good by God), nor is it very good (which God called mankind after the creation and institution of women and marriage); No, we have a great salvation (which is beyond good and very good). That’s what Jesus instituted — our great salvation. Please hear me: Your great salvation is a sign of the greatness of who you are called to be.

What does that mean? It means God values you. In fact, He values you more than anything else He’s created. He cares about you. He loves you. He has your best interest at heart. You are forever in His heart. You are God’s favorite. That’s how He sees you. He sees you through the lens of perfection. Yes, God has rose colored glasses concerning you — and me — and every other person on earth. We are God’s beloved creation. He sees your value, even when others don’t. Yes, I’m God’s favorite. And so are you. All mankind is His favorite. That’s why He made us — to favor us, to shower us with His favor and show us His favor.

Now, Go! Be who God made you to be — His favorite son or His favorite daughter. That’s who you are and were designed to be — God’s favorite. And so am I.

Let us pray!

— Scott Wallis