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. John 3:16 (KJV)
John 3:16 is a scripture that many of us have heard many times throughout our lives. The love of God expressed in this scripture can be and has been misinterpreted by so many people. Some look at this scripture and think that because God loves us, we can live a life of sin because He understands our hearts. But from this scripture, we can look to understand the heart of God towards humanity.
When reading this verse, we have to be aware of whom is speaking. Jesus is speaking to us in the way of Divine knowledge. He knows the truth about God and how to get to the Kingdom of God. When Jesus says, “for God so loved the world,” He’s not referring to love from a human sense. He is speaking of Divine love. A love that goes far beyond our capability to fully understand.
Since God is infinite, He loves without end. In First John chapter four, verse seven, we read that God is love. There is no end to His love because there is no end to Him. He embodies love and loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us. Many question the love that God has for us. They assume that God is to blame for all the chaos that is in the world today. But God is not to blame. Sin is.
Sin clouds our vision from knowing the love of God. It keeps us from understanding that we have a Father in heaven that cares for us. Sin crept in through the enemy’s deception and placed a lot of evil in the hearts and minds of people. That is why we have so much havoc in the world today. When God designed us, He did so with a good nature.
And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:31 (KJV) A clause
Humankind was created good in heart, mind, body, and thought. God didn’t create us to know sin and corruption. Sin is the very thing that separates us from God and leads to death. He did not make us in sin and does not want us to live in sin.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23 (KJV)
When responding to the love of God that He expresses in this scripture, we must do so with an open heart. God is offering us the gift of eternal life. We have to believe in the Son of God to receive that gift of everlasting life.
Some may wonder what it means to believe in the Son of God? When choosing to believe in Jesus, we are choosing Him to be Lord over our lives. We are also trusting Him to fill our voids or empty places in our lives. Many of us choose to find pleasure or fulfillment in life in other things without entirely giving our hearts and minds to Christ and fully submitting to Him.
Choosing Him means finding joy and pleasure in Christ rather than the things this world has to offer. We seek to find happiness in the Lord by giving Him our whole lives, mind, body, and heart included. We do that by obeying His word and living up to the standard that He has called us to live. We must make the right decisions and seek to do the will of God in all that we do.
When we believe in Jesus by faith, we have to know that we have found rest and peace for our souls. Our lives can be free in Christ, free from those things that we find so hard to let go of. If we trust in Him and believe in His word, we can live in that freedom.
Jesus’s words to us in John 3:16 are an expression of the heart of God. He’s offering us redemption through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. His Hand is out to us, and we cannot refuse or take this offer for granted. Allow this to be the day to choose to receive Christ and the gift of eternal life.
May God bless
