"God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die"- (John 3:16 CEV)
John 3:16 is probably the most popular verse in the Bible, but many haven't understood the power of that little verse.
What world did God love? Was it the hills and the mountains? Was it the vegetation and the rivers? It was none of these. He loved the world of human beings, as sinful and wicked as they were. Doesn't it amaze you that even when Adam sinned back in the garden, it was still God who came looking for him: "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them"- (Genesis 3:8-10, 21 NKJV)? Adam was hiding from God, because he had sinned, yet God stilled covered his nakedness with animal skin, showing that he loved him.
The Bible says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins"- (1 John 4:10 KJV). So, clearly God demonstrated His great and boundless love for us, while we were yet in sin. You may be reading this today and perhaps you're not born again and you're wondering, "Can God possibly love someone like me?". Emphatically yes! No matter what kind of life you may have lived, He wants you today.
Now that you know how much God loved the world of sinners, think about how much more He loves those who are born of Him. The Bible says, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life"- (Romans 5:10 KJV). If He loved the world of wicked men, He loves His kids even more.
If you're born again, you have no business with poverty, lack, sickness and failure. God has given us His own life, and everything that belongs to Him, "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together"- (Romans 8:17 KJV). He did all this because of His great love for us; have faith in that love, because it's been poured out abundantly for you.
Further Study: 1John 3:1 (NIV); Romans 5:8
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him"- (1 John 3:1 NIV)
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"- (Romans 5:8 NKJV)
No comments:
Post a Comment