Is it not enough that He sent His ONLY Son to die for us!
The most quoted/used bible verse at every sword drill at your junior high youth group or middle school chapel, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” - -John 3:16
I remember the youth pastor saying that verse and the people up front with their bible above their heads ready to find the verse and read it… I was sitting in my seat, probably with my arms crossed across my chest, saying to myself “geeze people, cant you just say it, do you really have to look it up and read it. Its like the easiest verse ever”.
Oh the smartness/sassiness of a 13yr old.
Yes it would be easier to just say the verse than to look it up… but that is not the goal of sword drills
-Sword drills showed off who really knew the 66 books and knew them in order.
OK enough about junior high and those great years where I sported braces and passed notes in class that were in the shape of those paper footballs.
Back to the verse “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” –John 3:16
This verse is not just a simple verse that we learn when we are 3years old.
It is complex and really shows us the character of God.
I’ve been reading about God’s love for me a lot recently. And I stumbled across this statement:
Love- The deepest possible expression of God’s character. Though God loves all people, he is especially committed to sacrificial, loyal relationships with his people.
God’s love is eternal/everlasting! It is not going to fade away or disappear.
I love these verses’ in Jeremiah 31:1-6. He does not let us go…
but He doesn’t stop there -He provides for us!
1 "At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people."
2 Thus says the LORD: "The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,
3 the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.
6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.'"
His LOVE is also a covenant love! Deuteronomy 7:6-11 Click here to read it.
We have become jaded and want everything to have proof.
Well here is my proof…
I know for a fact I am beyond loved by God!
I feel His love wash over me as I read His love letter to me.
I feel His arms of strength around me when I am tired and can not go on.
I feel His presence when I am singing at church or in my car by myself.
I get to see His love portrayed out in my friends’ lives as they love me well. (Let me expand on this. I am confident in my friends love for me and my love for them because it is all rooted deeply in our personal relationships with Christ. We love each other well because He first loved us.)
I see God’s love in my parents 35yrs of marriage and in my brother’s brand new marriage.
God’s LOVE is EVERYWHERE
Stop asking HIM to PROVE IT
