God Liked Them

 "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.  God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." (I John 4:16). "We love because He first loved us" (vs. 19).

 Hey Gang:  Common denominator number two of the people in Hebrew’s Hall of Faith – God liked them!  Say that with me “God likes me!.  O, come, say it out loud for all to hear!  Now before we move  into the subject at hand, let me ask you a question - Is it easier to love? or to like someone?

A College Professor asked his class to define love. Many answers included such things are devotion, commitment, sacrifice were common words used by the class, but one student defined it as "a decision, an act of the will.  The more I thought about that the more I was convinced she was right.  So I ask you again, is it easier to like someone? or to love someone?  My experience has taught me the later is much easier, for it is an act of my will.

Let me put that in action, the bride of my youth had a problem with one of the young ladies that was on our staff:  a young lass that she had known most of her years on earth.  She struggled with these feelings, not wanted to harbor in her heart any ill feelings about this young lady but I must admit she (the young lass) did know how to be a thorn in one’s side.

After many months of agonizing with these feelings, God tapped her on the shoulder and said "When you feel animosity towards her, pray for her.  Ask me to bless her sox off.”   Within a day or two, the young lass gave her (my bride) an opportunity to feel animosity once again but she beat Satan to the punch by immediately praying for her (the young lass) and asking God to bless her.  And God honored her faith fullness and a lasting friendship developed.

 Now, getting back to God Like Them, He liked Abraham in-spite of his lack of faith in trying to protect his own hide by passing his wife off as his sister, (twice) and promised to make a great nation out of his faithfulness. . 

 He liked David in spite of his being a murderer, adulterer and very poor parent.  Why?  Because he was a man after God’s own heart”.   

God liked Noah who was obedient and spent 120 years building an ark, but when the ark finally rested on the mountain top, the next thing we read is Noah got roaring drunk and lay naked in the grass.  But he had a passion for the Lord and God likes that.

 God liked Rahab, a hooker because she repented and got saved.  She later married Salmon who begat Boaz who married Ruth who begat Obed who begat Jesse who begat David and from the line of David we know the Son of God came into the world.  I want you to know that in spite of her background and errors of her ways, God like Rahab and He likes you in spite of your shortcomings and failures.   .

 Soooo, my young ones,, keep this firmly entrenched in your heart and minds as you traverse this day and week and year,  God likes you and He likes me, in spite of our imperfections.   Say it again - God likes me – does that fill the cockles of your heart?  

Blessings,

 Gramps