Last night my husband and I went to dinner with close friends at a restaurant that advertises that they have the “Best Burgers in Denver.”  We were all skeptical because each of us had an opinion of where to find the best burgers.  Mine isn’t in Denver at all, but in a small café in Castle Rock, Colorado called Castle Café. 

The “Best Burgers in Denver” just didn’t measure up to my favorite.  In fact, they didn’t measure up to any of our favorites.  Yet the friends who recommended the eatery to us truly believe they are, hands down, the best burgers around. Burgers and religion don’t usually go together in the same sentence but our quest for the best burgers made me contemplate best religions. 

Recently I saw a bumper sticker that said 1.2 billion Muslims and growing.  So is that the favorite religion? Well, it’s not mine.  In fact my spiritual life isn’t a religion at all but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Do you know why Jesus is my favorite?  It’s because He loved me first.  He pursued me with a great deal of love.  In fact, it is an unfailing love. 

Psalm 23:6  Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

Amazingly enough, I am Jesus’ favorite, too.  Well… me and you, and you, and you, and you…Do you know how I know I’m his favorite?  It’s because I’m valuable to him, because He put marvelous workmanship into making me and because, if I was lost, He would leave everything to find me.

Matthew 10:29-31 Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.Psalm 139:14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it.Matthew 18:12 If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one?

If you want to search for the best burger, go for it!  But if you want to find the best religion, don’t look for one.  Instead, find a relationship with Jesus by asking Him to forgive your sins and then pursue getting to know him better.  He’s standing by waiting to be found.