God Likes You!

If I’m going to have pizza, I want pepperoni on it. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. I just like pepperoni. You may like sausage better, you may like mushrooms better, you might like tomatoes better, you might like who knows what. Pineapples better. We have certain things that we favor. And oftentimes, there’s not a lot of rhyme or reason to it; we just like it. I like pepperoni; it is what it is. I don’t have any explanation for it, I just know that’s the truth. I don’t like beets. I don’t have any real rhyme or reason for it. I just don’t like them. God has things that he likes too. The Greek word that’s translated favor, in Luke 2.14, glory to God in the highest and peace to humans on whom his favor rests. That word favor is the Greek word for liking something, without there necessarily being any rhyme or reason for it. And what God is saying is that he likes us humans. I would think God would have all kinds of reasons why he wouldn’t like us humans, amen? We’re selfish and bitter and angry, I’ll put dollars to donuts, we’ll hear a squad car, or two go fly and buy during our worship service on Christmas day, really? Really? God would have all kinds of reasons to not like us humans, but God likes us. And no, there doesn’t have to be any rhyme or reason to that, because God has the right to have his own opinions about what he likes. I like pepperoni. You can argue with me and say, “No, you really like sausage. No, you really like banana peppers.” You can like those things. I like pepperoni, it is what it is. God says, “I’ve chosen to like you.” And it is what it is. And how could God show that he liked us any more powerfully than by what he did on this earth? God liked you so much that God became one of you, a real human being. God liked you and me so much that he lived our life, died our death, rose back to life again, also that what could happen? So that you could go to heaven and be with him forever. Hmm, kind of sounds like God likes you and me an awful lot. And that, my brothers and sisters, is what Christmas is all about. That God not only loves you, but he even likes you.