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Sometimes I wish I had an in with God in such a way that I could read how He feels about me.
If I had never any failures and mistakes... then, I guess, my answer might be positive. But I have unseemly ways about me, more than people know! And they bother me. If God were any like me, He would not think favorably of me.
The angel told Mary that she was God's favorite. He said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!”
Was that because Mary was a super-good person? Well, yes, she was special! The rest of her life bore that out.
But that was not the main reason. The angel added, “The Lord is with you.”
The Lord is love and grace. Mary had drawn from that, she had reflected that, God was the Source of all that was good in Mary. Hence, the Lord called her His favorite.
God wants you and me, and all his children, to be His favorite. His love and grace is infinite. There is always plenty more to go around. His grace is endless; His favor is ours by grace!
Mary testified to that. In her song of response she said, “My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.”
We may have a lot on our minds this Christmas Season. We worry, we feel lonely, we feel tired, we feel vaguely troubled... Could it wear down our self-esteem? Mary would have understood.
But overriding is one reality we may rehearse: God is our Savior! We are His favorite!
Comments
Thanks Louis for an interesting article on God’s favoritism. For the Christian, the Bible does offer a lot of comfort in regard one’s own well being and acceptance by God. Indeed the Christian is favored, but not because of anything within themselves. As you imply, if I scrutinize your comments correctly, the Christian’s favored position is only because of Christ. That is evidenced by the fact that those apart from Christ are sentenced to eternal damnation. There is nothing, apparently, that God sees in the person apart from Christ worth saving or of receiving a good commendation, even though by our human standards a person may be a very good person. Our judgments of a person’s character mean nothing to God. Does it frustrate you a bit that God has shown his favoritism (election) only to the few while leaving the many to a destination of eternal damnation, as determined by God? “Many are called, but few are chosen.” I realize your audience is basically those who are Christians, much in the same way as when Bible authors speak of the “we” or “us” or “our” or “my” they are speaking of the Christian community and not of those outside of that community. And your article is a comfort when one thinks they are God’s favorite child. But I can’t help but to question, doubt, feel terribly frustrated, even angry at a God who despises the majority of the world’s population when he could have saved "all", or at least the many instead of the few. As long as you are speaking to (and of) a Christian audience, your article offers comfort indeed. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what happens when you are a product of Reformed teachings. Thanks for your many good articles.
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