His Love for Us

I have to tell you that it never ceases to amaze me how much He loves us. True, the whole "common" Christian thing to do is to quote John 3:16. But how many of us let that scripture sink in to our very thought process and let it stew for a minute? I never honestly did till about a few minutes ago.

This scripture not only is the core of the Christian ideology, but it has also become a verse used to reach out to people. I know plenty of non believers that can even recite the lines! For awhile it wasn't hard to find someone holding a sign at some sports event that read in painted lettering "John 3:16" high above his head with one of those multi-colored wig on his head. Erg. Let's look at it, even though you have probably already read it before on your own, in Sunday school, or with a friend.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The first concept that jumps from the verse is the word LOVE. I think that as people of Christ we tend to look too far ahead of ourselves. I mean really the first part illustrates tons more than we give it credit. He loves us (the world= His image=humans) therefore, he sacrificed (quite literally) the human version of Himself so that we could chill with Him forever.

I like that word love though. It has a good ring to it. If God loves us so much that he would suffer, bleed, become broken, and die for us how come we find it so easy to negate Him? I mean, Christ is the alternative to permanent death, He is eternal life. It's a matter of either/or situations with God in this verse.

Either: He doesn't love us, and so He doesn't send Christ to die so we can accept Him into our lives and live forever.

Or: He loves us without abandon, sending Christ to die so we can be forgiven of our sins and live in Heaven Forever.

Nice concept eh?

So next time you see someone who is quoting this scripture or is holding the sign at a sporting event, realize that he is just hoping you see it this way: It's all about love to God, and it seems that the guy that's holding the sign is trying to say the same thing.

And I love you too.

Remember that Christ's sacrifice was just as much for you as the most holy person you can think of. Never second best yourself...He doesn't.