So today I was reading John and I came to the all known verse - 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." OK, some of you reading this might be thinking, oh wow he wants to talk about this again. Well, that's not going to happen. I am actually going to talk about what follows this verse. I know most of us have heard of John 3:16, but what about John 3:17. So here is this scripture and I will talk to you about what I think after you read it.
17For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Ok, so we focus on John 3:16, I feel that maybe we miss what is trying to be said here. Yes God did send his only Son to die for you and whosever believes in HIM shall have eternal life. But where is the explanation of this or of Jesus himself. Verse 17 gives us more of a feel of who Jesus really was to God. He was not sent to pass out condemnation to all those around him, but to save the world. Jesus's father was God and he sent him to earth to die for our sins. This is kind of hairy because I think people can look at this and say that in death he was condemning us. Well at this time we had no way to have our sins washed away. We were a sinning world, consumed by it, so for us to say that Jesus was not sent to condemn is a statement so that we understand, Yes God was not happy with the way we were handling ourselves so he sent us refuge in His Son. I want you to imagine for one moment the multitude of this. Those who have kids will understand this and those who don't try to imagine it with children close to you. Nobody wants to break it down like this but I will. Say the family down the street is dying and the only way to save them is to sacrifice your child. Or, let's up the ante a little bit. Say 9-11 was happening right now and you were on a plane, and the person who hijacked it says to you, give me your child and all the people in New York will live. Could you do it. Could you send your child to die, knowingly die, for the lives of other people. This is what God has done. He did not send Jesus to condemn but to give life to those who believe that he is their savior. I can tell you that I could not do what God has done for you. I couldn't give my child's life to save someone else. My children mean everything to me. God says that he didnt send Jesus to condemn but to save. How did he save us? By dying on the cross so that we could be free from sin. So that we could have love in our hearts. So that WE could be happy and free. It plainly says that Whosever believe in HIM shall have eternal life. Do you think if you live the GOOD life your going to heaven. Your going to see loves face. Your going to experiece Joy unimaginable. No, sorry to be blount, but NO. My blog is called faith without works and this is my reasoning. In James it says "...faith without works is dead." Well, let me ask you, what is dead faith. It's not believing in my savior and showing that I have faith by working on those around me, just as Jesus did when he walked. I've said this before, I don't believe in scaring people to Jesus because he was LOVE, but I do believe in opening the door for you and SHOWING you just what love is! I pray all of you reading this will understand love by what I have said, and I pray Jesus watches over you all! Be Blessed!
