Does God Like You?

I read an interview with James Alison, a Roman Catholic priest and author, in the latest Christian Century. He has written a book entitled On Being Liked. The interviewer asked him, "What does it mean to say that God not only loves us, but likes us? Why do we need to hear that?" Alison responds by saying, The word love, alas, is so abused. In my book I wanted to remind people that sometimes being told that we are loved really means: 'My love for you is so strong that I wish I could suppress all the bits about you that don't measure up to my standards. In fact, if you become someone else, then I might actually like you and enjoy you as well.'"

He caught my attention. I asked myself, "Does God like me?" It feels a little bit weird asking the question, to be honest. It made me wonder when I say that I love someone if behind the words I sometimes have the meaning which he suggests. What do you think? Does God like you? What difference might it make in our lives if we believed that God actually liked us?