Being LOVED and Being LIKED

BEING LOVED AND BEING LIKED

There is a difference between people knowing they are loved and knowing they are liked.  It seems to me that there has always been a great desire for man to feel both loved and liked, but in Christian circles we are taught that we have to love.  Its not a choice…we just love.  We love our God and we love people.  However, even though we are supposed to love people we don’t always like them.

That’s the interesting part.  If we buy into the notion that you can “love something” but not really “like it” then what does that say about our God who is the example of love? What does that say about real love?  Is love just an emotion of tolerance?  So many Christians equate God’s love with their own view of love that it starts to form the question in their heart “If God loves me like I love people, then does God even like me?”  We have created categories that allow us to fulfill our duties to God, and still keep some form of personal preference and identity.  In reality, we are only doing the latter meaning no one person is perfect and we could all be doing more to build our relationships with Christ.

It’s so ironic to me that we have unknowingly put so much emphasis on winning God’s approval when we have had it all along.  God’s delight (or the capacity of His love and fondness of us) is not based on “sacrifices” or things we achieve (Psalm 51:16).  It is simply based on the fact that He loves us, and He likes us.  There is no difference to Him, that’s it.

We are great at saying that we “love people” but then avoid them because of some personality flaw.  We justify our actions by saying “I love them in Jesus name…but they need to get saved,” like its an excuse for us to not like them.  ”I have to love that guy, but he is so self centered, I don’t like him.”  Is that even possible?  God is our example, and if He has the capacity to love us completely and like us too then we should have that capacity as well.  God likes your quirky little laugh, and your crooked nose.  He likes your strange feet, and He even likes how you have to brush your teeth twice every night before bed.  He likes that you still have areas to grow in humility, and He delights in the fact that your love is immature, but real nonetheless.

So stop feeling like every time you mess up in your Christian walk or don’t live up to an expectation you have to spend 6 hours in probation before He forgets about what happened.  God doesn't just love you because He made a covenant that He had to…He really, really, really likes you.  So remember, you aren't just loved by God, you are liked by God too.

READ : Psalm 57: 2 | Psalm 51:16-17 | Psalm 34 | Psalm 36:7-9