“I don’t like you.” Most of us have had someone tell us this at least once through life, sometimes more. Often people won’t say it directly to our face; however, they express it non-verbally quiet loudly through their attitudes and actions. Growing up a socially awkward kid, I heard it and had it directed at me more times than I care remembering. Dislike communicates rejection, exclusion, disapproval and leaves you with the feeling something is wrong with you. This can have a profound effect on people when they become adults. It shapes the way we perceive ourselves, perceive others, and even perceive God. It results in people not liking themselves, convinced no one likes them, and makes it difficult grasping the truth that God likes them.
New believers normally understand that God forgave their sins. Yet, it may take time for them to absorb the scope of His love and reach the point of knowing with assurance God loves them. Still, people may have a flawed view of how God relates with them. Too many, myself included, saw God as a grumpy old man who no one could please. This leads Christians to believe God loves them but until they get to heaven, He just puts up with them. A quantum leap in spiritual growth takes place when we come to the realization that God not only loves us, He likes us. “No way!” you say. “I have too many faults for God to like me. I haven’t done enough.” That asserts God bases His like for us on our performance. However, He grounds His like for us on Christ’s work. Paul wrote, accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God (Rom.15:7 NIV). Because He has accepted us, the Lord takes delight in us (Psa 149:4). He rejoices over us with gladness (Zep 3:17) and He takes pleasure in us (Ps 147:11). In other words, He likes us.
“How can He like me? I’m so different from everybody else.” My answer if someone asked me that, “Good. Glad you aren’t like everybody else.” We have to remember the Lord created us in His image and wove us together in our mother’s womb as unique individuals (Ps 139:14). Yes, sin distorted us, but it did not destroy His image or the essence of the person He designed us to become. Through sanctification, which occurs all through life, He is straightening out the distortion restoring us back to the person He made. I’m aware some people still don’t like me. I finally resolved their problem is not with me; their problem is with God because He made me who I am. God’s liking us doesn’t mean He likes everything we do. I don’t like some things my wife does and she certainly doesn’t like things I do, but we still like each other and are best friends.
Grasping the fact that God likes you has life changing results. It is the first step in embracing the fullness of His love. If you believe, He is just putting up with you until you get to heaven; you’ll never know how much He delights and takes pleasure in you. You will block His longing to be with you and will hinder experiencing the friendship He desires having with you. We don’t want friendship with people we dislike. Jesus liked people and saw them as friends. He called Lazarus His friend, our friend Lazarus . . . (Joh 11:11). Twice He called His disciples friends (Joh 15:14, 15). The Lord called Abraham a friend. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God (Jas 2:23). This indicates God liked Lazarus, liked the disciples, and liked Abraham.
The major reason we have problems realizing God likes us begins with fact we don’t like ourselves. Once we realize He likes us, we can begin liking ourselves. Statistics show 85% of people have a low self-image and even higher for teenagers. That means none of these people like themselves. Only God can change this. No statistics are available on Christians, but many believers struggle with disliking themselves. A few reasons are that they base this on negative experiences, constant criticism as a child, failing to meet up to worldly standards, and what other people say about them. Every Christian struggling with such issues should redefine their belief about who they are based on God’s prospective of how He sees you and feels about you—and He likes you.
Then we must also accept the fact He likes other Christians even the ones we don’t. We must also view them as created in the image of God and knit together in their mother’s womb as unique individuals. As we continue growing in our understanding that God likes us, we will see ourselves as God does, and can see others as God does. I must confess that in the 55 years I’ve been a believer, I have never thought about God liking me. I’ve had enough struggles accepting the fullness of His love for me. Two weeks ago in church this thought came into my mind that God likes me. I’m still processing what all that means, but it is another step toward embracing the fullness of His love. Do you like yourself?
Sustaining Word for the Week: God not only loves you, He likes you!