Love and Like

“I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you…” John. 15:15-16.

“Now you are my friends”; you cannot be a friend of somebody you do not like. What creates friendship is the likeness. God does not need us but He likes us and that is simply amazing. The funny thing is that even though we need God, we do not always want Him. He does not need us yet He wants us. But even though we need Him desperately, we do not always want Him. We just need Jesus in church so that our prayers can be answered. We just need Jesus so that He can give us the breakthroughs we need at work or in our businesses. But we do not want Him because we want to go to the bar and we don’t want Him to come along. You want to go to the club and see half-naked girls and still flirt with them but you don’t want God there. You need Him for promotion – but as soon as you settle into that new role and feel like you have it all under your control, you say to Him, I don’t really need you any more. When you were fasting and praying for the five years for that promotion, you needed God. But now the breakthrough has come and you suddenly don’t really want Him anymore. Isn’t that pathetic? Totally pathetic! The God of the heavens and the earth that does not need you wants you. You that are so frail, that really needs Him, shouldn’t you want Him? You know that things are fickle, shouldn’t you need Him even when the going seems good?

I get asked very often, why do you love God so much? It is simple, very simple actually. I love God because though God does not need me, He likes me and He wants me! So do I have a choice in responding to the love? No, I just respond in love to Him. The funny thing is we desperately need Him but we don’t always want Him. It is important to reflect, because if you don’t, you can easily become ungrateful. Can you love yourself the way God loves you? Can anyone like you the way God likes you? So how then should you respond to God? “I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee. O bless me now my Saviour, I come to Thee” [Hymn].

Jesus is my Savior is personal. It doesn’t matter how it is to the person to your right or to your left. Salvation is totally personal. And what keeps you going in spite of all odds is the life of God that is in you. So release yourself to God so that His life can come into you and perfect your union with Christ Jesus. You desperately need Him and He desperately wants you so that you can desperately want Him too. Salvation is between you and God.

Prayer [hymn]: “I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee. O bless me now my Saviour, I come to Thee”. Amen!