[Written by Derek Dougherty]
Do you remember the first time someone said, “I like you”. Can you remember how it felt? Maybe for some it was a best friend that was genuinely excited to see you. Or perhaps the first time someone from the opposite sex showed that kind of interest in you. Can you feel the butterflies in your stomach and the overwhelming joy that causes you to smile from ear to ear?
Jim Wilder in his book The Other Half of Church says that “joy is what we feel when we are with someone who is happy to be with us. Joy does not exist outside of a relationship.”
During the Thanksgiving season the oft-quoted verses like “Rejoice always… give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thess. 5:16, 18), can be really hard to balance with the mixed emotions around the table due to sadness of loved ones that have passed away or in dealing with family conflict.
In general, I have always struggled with God’s command to always rejoice. I feel like I need to muster up some measure of excited happiness when often I am operating out of a fuel tank that is depleted of joy.
This week I heard a pastor get up in front of a room full of pastors and leaders, who could rattle off all of the benefits of being loved by God and this pastor very simply stated, “God likes you!”. Or to put it in Jim Wilder’s language, God is happy to be with you! His face lights up when He looks at you.
I know intellectually that God loves me or why else would He have sent His son to die for me. But in the back of my mind, it’s hard to get out this notion that somehow His love is driven by duty or obligation. Just like Jesus calls us to love our enemies, He loves us but there is no way that He actually likes me. Is there?
“God Likes Me!” When I stopped to let the reality of that message wash over me, I began to feel some of those butterflies return to my stomach. A grin started to form on my face and my joy tank began to fill back up.
In Zephaniah 3:17 we are given a picture of this God who delights in you even causing Him to burst out in song.
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17
This theme is repeated time and time again throughout Isaiah and the Psalms as if God is shouting from the rafters “I LIKE YOU!!!” “It is a delight to be with you!”
This Thanksgiving if you are feeling like your joy tank is depleted, I encourage you to let the good news of this truth wash over you. Even if you are struggling to find reasons in your current circumstances to rejoice there is one who is delighted in YOU. Let Him fill your joy tank up as He reminds you how much He Likes YOU.
