I Am His Favorite

Painting by Claude Monet

My husband and I walked by a florist shop recently and there was this little plaque with the inscription:  Jesus loves you but I am his favorite.  My husband said he thought those were my exact sentiments.  We laughed.  My first thought was how silly and how theologically unsound.  But the little saying kept nagging at me.  As silly as the saying goes, I do feel like I'm God's favorite in the sense that He loves me most intimately and exclusively.  It reminds me of how the Apostle John described himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved.   I don't think that in so describing himself,  John was implying that Jesus did not love the other disciples or that He did not love them as much, but that in his mind and heart, he knew without a doubt that the Lord Jesus loved him immensely and exclusively.  I think everyone of us who loves our Lord would feel that way; God loves the world but He also most definitely loves each one of us exclusively!

Do you feel that you are the one whom Jesus loved?  And if not, why not?  May I venture to say that if you do not feel like you are His favorite, that perhaps it's because He is not your favorite. 

John 20:2
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

John 21:20
[ Jesus and the Beloved Apostle ] Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”