Liked vs. Likable

This isn't important, but it is interesting: Illumine's Facebook page has 399 likes. (By the way, whoever is our 400th like will get a free Illumine water bottle sent to their home.)

The whole concept of "liking" something has really been warped by the popularity of Facebook, and talking about it in that context can lead to some odd phrases, such as "we have likes."

Everyone values liked-ness. People spend hours each day doing things that they believe will A) lead people to like them more or B) lead them to like themselves more. (Or both.) 

Which do you value? Do you wish you liked yourself more, or do you just wish you were more likable? There's a tremendous difference between the two. If we wish we liked ourselves more, then we assume that we have some likable qualities within us. If we wish we were more likable, then we assume that we aren't worth liking. Which one is more valuable, likability or actually being liked? Which one, in the long run, is going to give us an actual estimate of how much we are worth?

Which way does Jesus operate?

Does God love us because we're likable or because we want to be liked? Since God's grace is, by definition, undeserved love, it doesn't seem as though Jesus is concerned with liking us because we are worth liking. 

On the other hand, did Jesus show his love to us on the cross because we wanted to be liked? "For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" (Romans 5:10) As enemies of God, we were not clamoring for his attention until through the Word and by the Spirit God changed our hearts.

Jesus has shown love to us not because we were likable, not because we wanted him to like us in spite of our unworthiness, but simply because he is good to us. He is kind and merciful and gracious and gives us what we don't deserve. 

So the question is not: What can I do to get God to like me?

And the question is not: What about me made God like me?

Instead, the question is: What will I do now that I am liked?

"11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6:11-14)