one of our favorite verses in the bible is john 3:16
for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life
wow! what a statement! and what a promise!
God loves us. and He so loves us that He gave up His son for us. and, again, so much so we could have life eternal.
God loves us.
i was reading in john 14 this morning, about Jesus trying to tell the disciples that He is leaving and explaining to them about the Spirit coming to be with them. it's heady stuff. at least for this little girl.
verse 31 captured me. it says
but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
it's not as popular as john 3:16. it isn't even really taught that much. this is probably the first time i've ever really studied it. and then i wondered why.
it's so much more fun to think of 3:16 - God so loved the world, than it is to think of 14:31 - so that the world may know I love the Father. because Jesus loving the Father has nothing to do with,.. well.. us! i mean it does, when you get all theologicalness about it, but it doesn't specifically relate itself to us, the reader, now does it?
it's huge, though. it's incredibly important because it tells us why on earth Jesus Christ, God Himself incarnate, would submit Himself to death at the hand of satan when He could squash him like a little insignificant mite. but He doesn't. why? the verse tells us - He loves the Father. and it is so important that the world know that, apparently, because He goes through with the crucifixion so they will know that He loves Him.
there's this incredible cycle of love and displaying of that love that happens in the human life of Jesus. He is given to the world out of the Father's love for the world, He dies for the world out of His love for the Father. one shouldn't stop at the first verse because the next one completes the cycle and explains oh so much. and if He does this so the world may know He loves the Father - why aren't we telling them? if it's that important that they know,.. why aren't we doing our part to inform them?
i have an idea why. do you want to hear it?
seems we're too wrapped up in our own selves - and keep wanting to hear how much God loves us, that we don't want to scroll past the verse that reminds us of it. we want it to be about us. we want the whole message of Christ and saving us from being forever separated from God the Father,.. to be about us. and being loved. by God.
we want to feel lovable, we want to know we're loved, we want to be loved. we want to hear how we are loved, and we want to reach out for that love.
get over ourselves!!
it's about Him, all of Him, the truth of Him, the reality of Him, the foreverness and perfectness of Him. can we just unwrap us from ourselves and fall at His feet? huh? can we?
and if it's important enough for the world to know of Jesus' love of the Father that He would obey Him to His death, then we need to be getting that word out, too. the gospel is a story of love. but it isn't just us being loved that the gospel is all about. it's also about the Father being so fully worthy of love that His own Son - God, also, mind you - loves Him to such degree that He would submit to death in order to display it for all the world.
it's one thing to have someone die for me out of love for me. it's quite telling and an insanely different story to have someone die for me out of love for someone else. WOW - it blows my mind!!