I saw this bumper sticker the other day.  Maybe you’ve seen one like it too.  When I saw it, I thought I might like to have a cup of coffee with the person driving that car.  I just bet the conversation would be memorable.

From the beginning of human history, people have puzzled over whether God chooses some people and rejects others.  The question is found all through scripture, beginning with Cain and Abel.  We know about Isaac and Ishmael; Jacob and Esau; Ephraim and Manassas.  We know life seems to favor some people more than others with better genes and happier dispositions.  Countless millions of people are born into circumstances of grinding poverty, warfare, and disease.  Are they just God’s rejects?  

When God came to dwell among us in Jesus he didn’t come just for the gifted, or the beautiful people, or the select few.  Jesus came to reveal God’s love for all humanity.  God has no rejects.

Our circumstances differ.  Some are wonderfully gifted and privileged while others go through life with hardships that seem impossible to overcome.  But all of us share common humanity.  We know what it is to feel pleasure and pain.  We all have the same needs and desires.  We all long for love and for lives of meaning. We all endure sickness and death. 

In Christ, God was united to all of us.  In Christ, God undertook the full human experience.  In Christ, God chose all of humanity to be his favorite.

“God’s love was revealed to us in this way:  God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9)

Prayer:Merciful God, thank you for loving me best. Amen.