I’m learning in this journey with God that there are going to come moments where He’s going to reintroduce Himself to us. These moments reflect a God whose ways are higher than ours, so that even in the moment where we think we have reached a new level, He will remind us that we’ve have yet to reach the final destination. This journey will always push us to dig deeper to capture His heart. And every once in a while, there are moments when you are re-introduced to the love of God in a way that rocks your world. I would venture to say that we hear about the love of God all the time. We know that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus Christ to reconcile us back to Him. We know that His love covers a multitude of sins. We’ve sung “Jesus loves us, this we know/ for the Bible tells me so.”It’s nothing new to us. I speak for myself when I say that hearing about His love, at one point, had become so common that it didn’t move me the way that it once did. There were times I doubted His love even though I knew in my mind He loved me, yet in my heart felt condemned.

God reintroduced His love to me. . . He showed me that He LIKES me!

That wasn’t what He wanted. God reintroduced His love to me. He revealed to me what we’ve heard plenty of times: that He loves us. Does He love us! It’s without any question or any doubt. But He showed me this weekend that He LIKES me! He actually ENJOYS my company. HE ENJOYS spending time with me. I don’t know about you, but when I heard that, it did something for my spirit! It revealed God to me in a way that I had never thought of Him. It showed me that in spite of my flaws, He was able to meet me in the place of my humanity that needed to be liked more than loved. Don’t get me wrong, Love is powerful, but it is something entirely different when someone tells you that they actually like you. They actually like spending time with you and they actually enjoy your company. It changes everything. In all of our annoying ways, in all of our obnoxious thoughts, in all of our insecurities, in all of our hang-ups- God LIKES us. He actually WANTS to spend time with us even when we come to Him only to whine and cry about how life is not going the way we planned. Even with our flaws He can LOVE us and through us deeply.

Love is powerful, but it is something entirely different when someone tells you that they actually like you. . . It changes everything.

I’ve often heard people say (and I’m guilty of this too) that yes, God commanded us to love, but we don’t have to like, which has given us the excuse for not dealing with people’s behaviors and personalities because it may not be to our preference. Well, imagine if God used that same excuse with us? Imagine knowing that He loved you but He could really care less about you because He didn’t like your personality, nor does He really like spending time with you. He would rather just love you simply because He is love. That’s definitely not a comforting place to be. But here is the God of the universe—God of all creation—not only LOVING us but intentionally liking us and wanting to enjoy us. Do you want to know how much He enjoys us? Do you realize that right before His death, He wanted to spend His last supper in the company of His disciples, whom He knew were going to turn their backs on Him when He needed them the most? But He wanted their company. He liked their company. He liked them enough to devote one of the most crucial periods of His time to them.

It’s not forced. It’s not manipulated. It’s genuine and it’s real. And that is what God wants to get into your heart today. . .

That is how much He LIKES you! Come with your flaws. He sees through them and enjoys the beauty of His creation. There is a feeling of peace and contentment that comes with knowing that you are liked in the eyes of someone. Knowing that you are OK with them and that your presence makes them happy because they like being around you. It’s not forced. It’s not manipulated. It’s genuine and it’s real. And that is what God wants to get into your heart today—He LIKES you and ENJOYS every bit of YOU! Allow God to reintroduce His love for you today. He LIKES You!

Peace, love, and blessings,

Yodit