“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." - John 3:16
Before we arrive at the point in scripture where we are given the GREATEST GIFT OF ALL let's take a closer look at a few verses of scripture prior to this announcement. Nicodemus (John 3:2-10) knew (intellectually) God but he didn't have a framework for who God was (intimately). Nicodemus desired whatever God had to offer and he recognized that connecting himself to Jesus was THE WAY. Jesus told him in simple terms 'Bruh! You gotta know me know me!"
Being born again and enjoying the fruit of eternal living requires an intimate knowledge of God. You can't just register for an appointment online and show up to be seen like most of us are doing (due to the COVID19 pandemic) with our primary care physicians. Knowing God requires us to spend more than time with God - it requires us to spend our life with God. Knowing God intimately means that we are making every effort throughout the day to be and stay connected to God; not just the promises, gifts, and treasurers that come with that connection. Membership does have its perks but we have to have more than a
membership card to experience the sum total of everything God has strategically crafted just for us!
I want to make sure that you understand the nuances of one of the most popular scriptures of all time - John 3:16 is the G.O.A.T. fr fr (for real for real). I think it was the first bible verse I memorized growing up in Sunday School. We could probably quote this verse backwards that's how much it is ingrained in our psyche, but let's break this verse down just a little bit further!
"For God so loved..." | God's love was and is too much to contain - it's bubbling over.
"the world..." | God created this world, why wouldn't He love it? God knows how valuable He is and how valuable the creatures, ideas, experiences and beings that He creates are. God doesn't take what His hands created and say this is trash!
"that he gave his only Son," | Jesus is the Son. Jesus is the gift that God gave to us. We didn't get a good grade, behave perfectly, or think all the right things in order to receive God's gift. God gave us Jesus
because God loved the world. Periodt!
"so that everyone who believes in him..." | E V E R Y O N E who believes in Jesus could be you, me, us, all the people, rich, poor, the old, young people, incarcerated, middle class, people who identify as women or men or trans-gendered. All the people includes "hoodrats", "plugs", elected officials, people who eat loudly, or people who snore. All the people includes the people who sneak their boyfriends or girlfriends in, the people who do drugs, people who are unhoused (also known as homeless populations), immigrants (undocumented or documented), people who make the best choices and people who don't, people of every ethnicity and race and culture, people living with chronic physical and/or mental illness, and activists; you get the point - ALL THE PEOPLE etc. This part of the verse is talking about
E V E R Y B O D Y who believes in Jesus.
"...may not perish but may have eternal life." | All the people - WE THE PEOPLE who believe in Jesus have a life to live now and a life to after Jesus returns. And WE BELIEVE that THE only WAY to experience that eternal life is through Jesus - The Son - The Gift that God gave to the world because of God's love for the world (ALL OF US WHO BELIEVE)!
I'm grateful for the gift and I am most grateful that ALL of us have access to it and the only thing we have to do is BELIEVE and get to KNOW God INTIMATELY. With that being said, get to know God through a relationship that is real, no faking, no hiding, no shame; just you and God loving, living, listening, and building.
I encourage you to start on your relationship with God through Jesus today.
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