"Mom Likes You Best"

"The Lord turn his face toward you." - Numbers 6:26

In the late 1960's, the Smothers Brothers built a comedy empire on a routine that began with Tommy whining to Dickey, "mom always liked you best." My sister and I have done that a few times. What made the Smothers Brother routine work? Probably the fact that all siblings remember the sting of having a sibling or classmate or CO-WORKER take first place, dethroning us from the status we felt we deserved.

Number 6:26 describes a unique and wonderful favoritism. In the New Living Translation, the first phrase of this verse reads: "May the Lord show you His favor."

When we have favor with someone here on earth, our needs take precedence with that person. Our requests have top priority. We enjoy "no-knock access" to the home or office of the person who holds us in that kind of esteem. Bob Kelly is my mentor and I have that type of relationship with Him. When we worked together, he had a blue couch in his office. I still remember the comfort it was to know that I was always welcome to chat and come sit on the blue couch.

Now think. What must it mean to have God's favor rest upon you and I...to be God's favorite son or daughter? But how can we all be God's favorite? Just as mom tells her four sons, "You're all my favorite" and genuinely means it, so too, our Lord says to us through Jesus' resurrection, "You are all my favorite." He genuinely means it, too!

As if to reinforce this very point, Jesus told his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you" (John 15:9). In light of what Jesus said, consider what Paul said, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

You can go around today and tell people....I am one of God's favorites....You know I love ya - Don