To Believe God Loves You And Doubt He Likes You Is To Misunderstand And Misrepresent God!
” for the Father Himself loves{Phileo} you dearly because you love {Phileo} me and believe that I came from God. ” – {John 16:27}
“Phileo”- to have a warm affection because of having something in common mutually! The word speaks of “affection, fondness, liking…” It is relational and a friendship love!
God the Father has a warm affection, fondness love towards you. He likes you because you like His Son having an affection for His Son and believing He came from God!
God LIKES You!
For some to say “God LOVES you,” can be a cold impersonal thing – though it is not. But to say that God Likes you is too much for they cannot believe God could like them or indeed anyone. This they falsely believe because they do not view life through His WORD but through their own or others false concepts. And so people strive believing they live under the frown of God, constantly failing, trying to appease Him and only to fail again and ending up exhausted and defeated because they do not see the work of the LORD Jesus and His Word as sufficient OR true! Your “acceptance” is total, complete, whole, perfect. There is nothing you can do or not do to cause God to change His mind towards you!
THE LEGALIST has trouble with that and believes God is continually angry or can only be impressed if you “try harder” to gain His approval and ignoring the above verse and also such as Eph 1:6 which says we are “accepted in the Beloved.” Our acceptance is total, irrevocable as we are “accepted” because of the LORD Jesus.
Grace is amazing because He is amazing! Grace speaks of Favor, It is a Gift Not Gained by self-effort, otherwise, it is not Grace! God’s Favor is upon you!
“In Christ” you do not live under the frown of God but the smile of God! His approval is eternal!
How you view God is how you will live and present Him to others!
” And you will know the TRUTH and the TRUTH will”… do what? “…Set you free!”
Do you need to renew your mind and believe His Word and so be set free from the lie and the teaching of the legalist?
Enjoy Him and what He says about you!