Does God Have Favorites?

Have your children ever made the comment that you love their sibling more than them?  When I ask why they would think that, I usually get the response that it is because I did something nice for one of them.  As a parent, you respond that you always love them equally, and I do.  But sometimes I am pleased with one more than the others.  Why?  If one of my children takes the time to do the dishes, laundry, cook dinner, and take out the trash without me asking, the first thing I'm going to do is think what do they want.  The next thing is that I am going to be delightfully pleased that they cared enough for me and our family to be faithful and helpful.  I will want to honor that child for their faithfulness.  Maybe I'll buy them an ice cream sundae or spend some time with them watching their favorite movie.  Did this mean I didn't love my other children?  No.  It just means that I want to honor kindness.  God is like this.  He loves everyone equally.  He sent Jesus for all mankind, and He wants to spend time with everyone.  However, when one of God's children is faithful and serves Him joyfully without Him having to ask, it pleases Him.  Look at the disciple, John.  He was very close to Jesus.  He was so close to Jesus that others referred to him as John, the beloved.  When Jesus was being crucified, Jesus asked John to take care of his mother, Mary.  Did Jesus love John more than the other disciples?  No.  He trusted him more because John was faithful and committed to Jesus.  This pleased Him.  This brings me to why I chose to talk about this topic.  Yesterday, I was working very hard at church.  At the end of the day, I was tired and exhausted.  This is usually when you can become cynical.  "God, why am I doing this?  Why don't you ask others to do this?"  I just kept saying, "I'm doing this for you, God."  My husband and I were so tired that we decided to go somewhere cheap for a quick dinner.  We had ten dollars for both of us, so we chose Wendy's restaurant.  I ordered the four dollar meal, and my husband order the five dollar meal.  I thought, "I would really like a cold frosty." I knew we didn't have enough money.  We pulled up to the window and the attendant leaned out.  He mentioned that he had made an extra frosty and didn't want to throw it away.  He asked if we would like it.  This confirmed that when we joyfully serve God, it pleases Him.  One of my youth told me this morning that this seems to happen to me a lot.  It does, but it's not because God loves me more than anyone else.  It happens because he wants to honor commitment to Him- even with ice cream!

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!