are you the favorite person of anybody?

Have you ever heard the term "splagchnizomai"? (according to many sources plus google, this is the way you spell it) You probably haven't. It's an ancient Greek phrase that means something like "love", although there's not a good English word that can adequately translate it.

This term means loving so much that you are willing to bear the weight of another's life. It means a willingness to enter in amongst all the problems, to settle down there, to take them as your own. It is a love beyond empathy - it is a love of transformation. You are the one you love - you rejoice with them, and you are willing to hurt with them.

Would you believe me if I said that you have been splagchnizomai-ed?

I've thought a lot about splagchnizomai-ing this past weekend at a leader retreat for younglife. I was convicted of this: each day that I let myself believe that I'm no one's favorite person is a day that I've forgotten the heart of God - because the heart of God is for ME. It's for YOU. Entirely. All of you. The parts of you that you hate. The parts no one knows about. The you who is desperate for affection and who loves so hard because you're hoping it'll be returned and who is running empty because the world isn't loving back - That's the YOU who God loves. He's settling in there. He's splagchnizomai-ing you. Even now. You're His favorite person.

Those are hard words to believe, and yet, I'm learning to. Maybe you aren't. Maybe you already have. Maybe you don't want to. But I'll just say that I think it's the truth. I think that God loves us and wants to love us, as simple and great as that sounds. It's that simple. It's that great.

I know that the idea of God loving us is foundational for Christians. People can say that and I sometimes want to say "duh". But I rarely live like this thought is a rooted truth in me. If I did, I wouldn't crave affirmation, encouragement, and affection from everyone around me as much as a I do - I would know that I have those things already, and that I have them in abundance. God's love is gorgeous in terms that I cannot fathom, but that I want to spend my whole life responding to.

We watched this video one night this weekend and it struck me. Take a peek if you have the chance. I watched it and thought "yeah, of course I want to believe fully that I am the favorite person of somebody." Do you want that, too?