When I first believed in God, I learned that he loved me.
It was really cool knowing that someone gave their entire life for me so that I could live. And so I began my journey of life.
However, in the last several years, I am now learning that God not only loves me, but he likes me.
That he enjoys me. He delights in who I am. That his primary countenance over my life is not disappointment but of joy. That when he made me he had fun doing it knowing the resulting product would give him joy.
When I turn my face to him in the morning, every morning, I do not meet a grimacing face, but one who takes pleasure in being my father. He is mostly proud of who I am and not burdened by every way in which I am not like Jesus.
I am learning that God is not stoich. He is a deeply, vibrantly, and even so unpredictably emotional person. Most people think the emotional oscillations are mostly negative, that he’s angry with the world.
However, I read that “in his presence is the fullness of joy” (Ps 16). I think God does his job of being God with great joy. And so when he thinks joyfully of us, it isn’t a forced and reserved smile, but an extravagent and dominating joy.
God loves us. But he really, really, really likes us.
