Wednesday, May 15, 2013

FAVORITE THINGS

Baxter has favorites.  First on the list is salmon.  He goes crazy when I unwrap the package and get the filet ready for the grill.  He can hardly contain himself.  His nose is in the air trying to get a full whiff of the delicacy.  Then he starts begging and crying.  Even before it is cooked and served, he is craving a piece.  He won't let the delight out of his sight.  He sits and stares while I am heating the grill and marinating the portion.  Then when it is ready to be served, he swerves around my legs turning on the charm to have me hand over a generous morsel.  He always wins.

We all have our favorites.  Whether it is particular foods we love, or clothes we like to wear, or people we enjoy being with, or activities we like to engage in, we are attracted to these favorites, and no substitute quite fills the bill as well.  They bring joy to our lives.  They brighten a dark day and bring comfort to a difficult situation.  They help us relax.  Nothing can substitute for them.  Others might try to convince us to go for something different, but if we do, we often go back to the tried and true.  Once we have found a favorite, it's not easy to give it up for another alternative.  Our favorites become part of what makes us who we are.

God has favorites too.  Not food or clothes or hobbies, but a special part of His creation—people.  We humans stand out from all the other works of God's hand as made in His image and saved in His grace for a special place in God's Kingdom.  But when God picks favorites, it works a little differently than we might expect.  You see, God picks every person as His favorite.  No one is loved more than another in God's eyes.  We are each loved fully and totally for who we are in His sight.  No one is better or worse in deserving God's love, because no one can earn this love.  It is free and unconditional.  Our closest way to get a handle on this love is to think of loving parents.  No matter what their children do or whatever happens to them, good parents love their children still.  They may not like what they did.  They may object to their life style or company, but there is no abandoning one's children, no disconnecting from the relationship created at conception, no condemning who they are, even if their behavior is judged wrong.

God is the Father of every human being.  So we are all His favorites.  There are no comparisons here.  God can't love some one or some group more than another, any more than parents can love one of their children more than the rest of them.  But God's love is a challenge to His children.  We are called to treat each other as God treats us.  This is a tall order for us who pick favorites by excluding what we don't like.  How can we include everyone with respect and good will as part of our family?  We can't do it on our own devices.  We are too selfish, fearful and insecure.  But with God's grace, we can have a taste of loving as God loves us--freely and unconditionally, where everyone is a favorite and no one is excluded.

I bet when God looks at the whole expanse of humanity He has created or will create, He gets excited to take all of us into His life.  Baxter's excitement pales in the face of God's on this point.  What a wonderful God is ours!