Playing Favorites

Ever have someone in your life so influential you can still feel the effects of the relationship…long after they’ve gone on to glory?  In my life that’s my Grandma Rosa Beebout.

Gram “Bee” had 8 children.  Her husband, Grandpa LeRoy, died when my mom was only 13 and Gram took in boarders during the winter to help pay the bills.  Most of her children married and had kids of their own.  When she died at the ripe old age of 104 she had 17 grandchildren and dozens of great grandchildren.

As one of the younger grandkids, I spent a lot of time with Gram.  She made chicken and noodles for lunch, let me watch the Price is Right (and even some of The Young and the Restless if I was quiet and she forgot it was on!) and every now and then in the middle of a heated game of marbles or dominos, she’d lean over real close and whisper, “You’re my favorite!”  I loved the way it made me feel—so special, so important.  I believed her wholeheartedly, but as my siblings delighted in telling me later she said that to all her grandchildren!

So was Gram Bee lying to me when she said I was her favorite?  Absolutely not!  She got the idea from her Heavenly Father.  Ephesians 5:1 says, “Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.” 

The word “dear” in the Greek is agapetos.  Agapetos means beloved, esteemed, worthy of love—God’s favorite.

Our amazing God and Creator has made each one of us exactly as we’re supposed to be and He calls us esteemed, beloved, worthy of His love.  I’m God’s fave, you’re God’s fave—we are all God’s favorite.

Sadly, many of us don’t believe it.  We’ve given in to the schemes of the Enemy and focused on our faults or the bad choices we’ve made in the past and as a result we just can’t seem to accept God’s incredible love for us.  But that has never been God’s plan for us. 

Instead, God wants us to understand what it means to be His child.  We’re heirs (Rom. 8:17), sons and daughters (2 Cor. 6:18), chosen (Col. 3:12).  No matter what we’ve been told or what wrong messages have been given to us about our identity, the Truth is, you’re his favorite.

Revel in that knowledge today!