Frenchie,
our Bichon Friese, loves to curl up next to me while I’m watching television or
typing on my laptop. On the other hand, Happy Bear, our Pomeranian, usually
stays across the room on the carpet as Frenchie cuddles next to me. I can’t
help buy melt when I see him looking at me, his front legs tucked under
his muzzle and his coal-black eyes staring mournfully at me as if to say,
“Don’t you want me to be next to you, also?”
Of course I do. So, I get up, gently carry him to the couch and lay him
on my chest. Invariably, Happy takes a deep sigh, rests his muzzle
on my thigh, and falls asleep as I continue watching television.
Those who own dogs or cats know it just doesn’t get any better than that.
I suppose I could be accused of anthropomorphizing our dogs, associating human
characteristics to them. But it happens nearly 100% of the time when Frenchie
is curled up next to me and I have to gather Happy Bear to be with us on the
couch.
I
use that image to try to illustrate an important point about God and His
children who have come to Him by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
One day recently, when Happy was looking desolately at Frenchie and me, a
thought dropped into my head. How many Christians feel like they’re less loved
than others in God’s family?
In
the past half-century that I’ve walked with the Lord, I’ve met many Christians
who, like Happy Bear, think of themselves as second-class children of
God, as if the Father prefers to snuggle up with others of His children but
remains distant to them.
What
a tragedy it is to believe God plays favorites among His own children. We’ll
find NOTHING of that in the whole of Scripture. Indeed, we find quite the
opposite. For example, listen to James speak to that false idea: (James 2:9) "But
if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as
transgressors." Or this text in Proverbs 28:21 – “To show partiality is
not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress.” And since
God warns us against showing partiality to others, do we think He violates His
own commandment? Of course not!
Now
hear our Lord Jesus speak: John 16:27 “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have
loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” Listen to the apostle John: (1 John 3:1) “See
how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be
called children of God; and such we are.”
These
texts, and every one like them, are not directed at the few of God’s children,
or even to the many. They are directed to 100% of them. Why do you think Jesus
spoke of the Good Shepherd who left the 99 to look for the one? It’s because He
loves the one as much as the 99.
Some
of you might remember the Smothers’ Brothers Comedy Hour. The audience roared
with laughter when Tommy complained to his brother Dick, “Mom always liked you
best.”
But
it’s never funny when such things are true in a family, as happens far too
often even in Christian families, when a child feels his parent cares more for
a sibling than for him or her. And such poisonous relationships hold within themselves
the seeds of family discord and destruction.
Think
for a moment about how it turned out for Isaac and Rebecca’s sons – Jacob and
Esau. Jacob knew their father cared more for Esau than for him, and Esau could
easily sense their mother cared more for Jacob than him.
AND
how did that all turn out? If you know the story, Esau’s progeny remained at
war with Jacob’s progeny for generations. It’s all recorded in Genesis and
throughout the Old Testament when the writers talk about Edom – another name
for Esau. In fact, Herod Antipas – ruler over Israel in the days of John the
Baptist and Jesus the Christ – was of Edomite (Idumean) descent.
The
sin of favoritism carried over to Jacob’s children. Jacob made it no secret
that he cared more for his son Joseph than he did for his other eleven sons. They,
in turn, were so jealous of Joseph that they sold him into Egyptian slavery and
let their father, Jacob, believe a wild beast had killed him.
So,
what does all this have to do with us in 2026? I know that kind of destructive favoritism
happens in a lot of families. And it should not be surprising when a Christian who
comes from such a family carries that hurt into their relationship with God,
thinking God doesn’t love them like He loves others. It’s not surprising that
they think of themselves as second-class children in the family of God.
Some
of you may come from families like that, which is why you’re not absolutely convinced
that your Father in heaven loves you equally as he loves the person sitting
next to you.
Oh!
But He does. God is Love itself (1 John 4:8,16). He’s the very essence of love.
There is no part of Him that is not 100% love. Therefore, it’s impossible that
He would be partial to any of His children. In fact, Jesus Himself tells us
that the Father loves EVERY child in His family as much as He loves His Son, Jesus.
I won’t read it now but look at John 17:23 later for homework and you’ll find
that inviolable assurance.
I
repeat that last statement for emphasis: God’s love for you is the same length
and depth and height and breadth as is His love for Jesus. My brothers and
sisters in Christ, I hope the Scripture once and for all puts to rest the lie
about God’s alleged favoritism.
And
that brings us to another, yet related, question: Can we do anything that will
make God love any of us less? To answer that question, let’s look again at
God’s infallible words to us and first ask: What did you do to make Him love
you in the first place?
The
answer is – nothing. As God tells us through Paul’s pen: (Ephesians 2:1-2) “You were dead in
your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power
of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of
disobedience.”
Please
hear this: Before God called you to Himself, you were dead. D-E-D dead. And dead
people can’t do anything to make someone else love them. Therefore, that means God
loved you before He even drew you to Himself. God loved you as much as
He does now, even when you were dead in your sins. As the apostle wrote to the Christians at Rome:
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
So,
then, And again, (Galatians 3:3) “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now
being perfected by the flesh?”
So
to answer that question, “Can we DO anything that will make God love any of us
less – or more?” The answer is, of course, a resounding no. God loves you today
as much as He has ever loved you. And the height and depth and breadth and
length of His love for any and every one of His children through Christ will
always be equal to His love for Jesus.
Period.
End of story.
But
despite that Biblical truth, some still argue, “Then why do such bad things
happen to me while other Christians live such easy lives?”
Okay,
fair question. My answer? I don’t really
know. I’ve asked the same question myself at times. But let’s turn again to
God’s infallible words to us and see if we can’t draw some conclusions.
For
example, listen to Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, having been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom
also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in
which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not
only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that
tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven
character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy
Spirit who was given to us.”
I
do not know why some Christians seem to float along gently flowing streams of
life while others often struggle with loss and pain and heartache. But I do
know this, based on the whole testimony of Scripture – God does not love any
less the one who struggles than the one who floats nearly effortlessly. AND – and
this is important – God uses all of our trials and failures and broken hearts
and shattered dreams – He uses them all for our GOOD who have been called to
His divine purposes.
Furthermore,
and intricately coupled to that truth, we also need to be reminded of this divine
and binding promise: Nothing will separate us from His love. Nothing – except,
of course, ongoing willful sin.
Listen
again to the Scriptures: Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the
love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is
written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were
considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we
overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am
convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
And
I say it again for emphasis – this promise is not for only some, or even for
most, of God’s children. This promise applies to 100% of those who have entered
God’s family through repentance and obedient faith in Christ Jesus.
I
hope that now we are all on the same proverbial sheet of music, that being, God
does not play favorites with any of His children, and that He equally
loves each of us as much as He loves His Son, Jesus.
I
also hope that we all believe that there is NOTHING we can do to make God love
us less than He does, or more than He does right now. And finally, although we
will never fully understand why some Christians seem to float through life on gentle
streams while others move from one tumultuous series of rapids to another – the
truth is that God uses every circumstance in our lives for our ultimate good.
The
23rd psalm is not a promise only for a few of God’s children. The
promise of the psalm applies equally to 100% of His children: “The Lord is my
shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He
leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the
paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever.”
Now
then, as I begin to bring this message to a close, let’s change our focus 180° and
ask a pointed question most Christians rarely ask themselves. Instead of wondering
how much God loves me and you, let’s turn it around and ask ourselves how much
do we love God? Instead of asking, ‘Does God love me less He loves
others, let’s ask ourselves, “Do I love God less than I love myself?” Do
I love God less than I love my comfort, or my family, or my friends, or my
finances, or my entertainment, or living life ‘your way,’ . . . or whatever.
Said
another way, “Do I love anyone or anything more than I love God?
That’s
a question worthy of long and careful consideration. And that question raises another
yet question: What is the test of my degree of love for God?
The
answer to that question is easy when we look into the Scriptures, all of which
serve as a mirror of our hearts. As the Holy Spirit tells us: (Hebrews 4:12-13)
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than
any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul
and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts
and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His
sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom
we have to do.”
What
is the test of my degree of love for God? Listen to Jesus: “If you love Me,
you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) And again, “No
one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve
God and mammon” – or anything else, for that matter. (Matthew 6:24)
In
other words, to the degree that I obey God is the degree to which I love Him.
Now, let me pause to make an important point: No one has ever served God with
100% obedience 100% of the time. That’s why Scripture repeatedly tells us, for
example, (Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God;” And (1 John 1:8) “If we say that we have no sin, we are
deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
That’s
why God’s gift of forgiveness to the penitent is so incredibly wondrous. But
his willingness to forgive our sins does not nullify our responsibility to demonstrate
our love for God by making the correct choice between two masters – ourselves or
God. It does not abrogate our responsibility to demonstrate our love for God by
doing His will instead of our own.
So, please, my brothers and sisters, for the sake of your spiritual health and
maturity in Christ, let’s stop entertaining the question of whether God loves you
as much as He loves someone else. Let’s stop acting like my Pomeranian who
seems to think I love our Bichon more than I love him. From Genesis through
Revelation, God has answered the question of His equally measureless
love for all His children, regardless of and despite their individual life
circumstances. God has revealed to us through His infallible words that He
loves equally all who name the name of Jesus as their Lord.
Let’s
leave off with such questions which all have their yes and amen in Christ.
Instead, let’s ask ourselves – often ask ourselves – the more relevant
question: Do I love God less than I love something or someone else? And
if the answer is not what it should be – then ask what must be done about that.
Repent,
of course. And ask God to change our hearts toward more confidence in His
promises and to be more consistently obedient to His will.
