3:16

For God so loved this world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 A twenty-six phrase of hope: beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same. Brief enough to memorize in a few minutes but solid enough to instill hope into millions and sustain the same meaning through thousands of years of storms and questions. We all need reminders, in fact I need them daily sometimes. The heart of the human problem is in fact the human heart. And God's treatment is prescribed in John 3:16. HE LOVES. HE GAVE. WE BELIEVE. WE LIVE. God loves me because he chooses to. Gods love for me depends on His goodness not mine. That is hard for me to remember sometimes. And since He is totally good well then I am absolutely LOVED....100% LOVED! I don't have to win His love, I already have it....and in the same regard since I can't win His love then I can never lose it. He will love me forever, no matter what! I may step outside of His will but never His love. He loves me so much in fact that He GAVE his one and only Son Jesus Christ. I do wrong things daily...we all do. So this leaves us depending on the 3:16 promise. Though Jesus was sinless He took on our sin...my sin. God essentially placed my sin on His Son and punished it. When Jesus died on the cross, well He died in place of me. My response to this priceless gift is to believe. I must trust Jesus to do what I can't. I don't trust my own efforts to save me because I can't save myself and I can't place all my trust in another earthly person to save me....they don't have that power. But Jesus does and when we believe in Him the promise God gives us in John 3:16 means a lot more. We take similar steps of trust daily. We trust the chair will hold our weight so we sit in it....we trust the light switch will turn on the light so we flip it on. Jesus invites us to do the same with him. When we believe then we start to live....He gives us joy in this life and the promise of eternal life with Him. We have joy in this life because we have the Holy Spirit living within us and little by little the Holy Spirit will begin to change us to become more like Jesus. No guilt in life, no fear of death, He gives me life, NOW! In Heaven I will be at my best. No anger or sadness, tears or trouble. Never again will I be weary, selfish or feel defeated. I have accepted the promise of John 3:16 and I know that I will not perish but have eternal life with him in heaven. Although I love my life I can't wait to meet Him face to face. What an amazing promise to use as a foundation.