Devotion – September 26 – “Who Does God Love the Most?”
If I would ask you: Does God love everyone?” how would you answer that? Most of us would get it right and say, “Everyone.” But when you think about that answer, the ramifications are amazing and maybe even a bit disconcerting. For in saying that God loves everyone, we are saying that God loves Adolph Hitler and Mother Theresa, and a terrorist as much as a missionary. That we find is a difficult thing to swallow.
So, we would feel better if the right answer would be, “Yes, God loves everyone, but some more than others.” That’s more comfortable for us and it fits our sense of “rightness” and “justice” better. Yes that would make God’s love easier to deal with, but one thing we find in the Bible is that Jesus is not concerned about how we feel about the love he shares.
So, does God love everyone? Some more than others? Maybe the following true story will help us:
Shortly after Brennan Manning was ordained, he took a graduate course at Duquense University in Pittsburgh. The professor there, told the following story in class one afternoon: “I’m one of thirteen children. One day when I was playing in the street of our hometown in Holland, I got thirsty and came into the pantry of our house for a glass of water. It was around noon and my father had just come home from work to have lunch. He was sitting at the kitchen table, having a glass of beer with a neighbor. A door separated the kitchen form the pantry and my father didn’t know I was there. The neighbor said to my father, ‘Joe, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time, but if it’s too personal, just forget I ever asked.’
“What is your question?”
“Well, you have thirteen children. Out of all of them is there one that is your favorite, one you love more than all the others?”
The priest continued his story: “I had my ear pressed against the door hoping against hope it would be me. ‘That’s easy,’ my father said. ‘Sure there’s one I love more than all the others. That’s Mary, the twelve-year-old. She just got braces on her teeth and feels so awkward and embarrassed that she won’t go out of the house anymore. Oh, but you asked about my favorite. That’s my twenty-three-year-old Peter. His fiancee just broke their engagement, and he is desolate. But the one I really love the most is little Michael. He’s totally uncoordinated and terrible in any sport he tries to play. The other kids on the street make fun of him. But, of course, the apple of my eye is Susan. Only twenty-four, living in her own apartment, and developing a drinking problem. I cry for Susan. But I guess of all the kids...’ and my father went on mentioning each of his thirteen children by name.’
The professor ended the story by saying: “What I learned was that the one my father loved most was the one who needed him most at that time. And that’s the way the Father of Jesus is: He loves those most who need Him most.”
The answer to the question: does God love everyone is, “YES.” The answer to the question: Does God love some more than other? Maybe so, but not because some are better or more holy than others, in fact, Scripture seems to infer that God may have a deeper love for the lost than those who are saved – for they are the ones who are truly hurting even if they don’t know it.
You are loved by God, always will be.
So is the person beside you.
And know this: when you need that love the most, know God will provide it.
~ Blessings, Dan