Friday, we began to look at John 3:16…One look simply isn’t enough. As a father of 4 and “pops” to 3 additional treasures, each day I wake up to an understanding of the love of Abba, Father. Our children’s lives are precious. There really is no way to articulate the depth of love or willingness to sacrifice for these gifts placed in our lives.
We are willing to go to whatever lengths to assure their safety and quality of life. We will work 3 jobs, forego any personal pleasure, sacrifice our personal dignity and release our hold on any other precious thing we have in our lives to assure our loved ones are cared for.
All of us who have parented would never hesitate to lay their lives down on the daily for their kids. Now, imagine being the almighty master and creator of the universe. You provide a paradise to inhabit, every form of food and comfort to sustain. You are watchful and engaged in the life of your chosen, but they still think they can do better on their own.
You know they have to be allowed to make choices, even bad ones, if they are to ever love and feel loved. So, as you watch them turn their lives to a chaotic mess of fear and pain, you only have one thing left to give–yourself. So even as you begin that process, you know that many will refuse to accept the love being offered. Even though that love comes at an enormous personal sacrifice.
Still, because you love your chosen, you give up all that is precious for the chance that some will choose to accept the love and gift that you are providing. When they do, you can restore the relationship destroyed by a world corrupted so deeply that it will never desire or even be able to right itself.
Still, it is worth it for the few that look beyond their personal needs and desires and accept the gift that brings peace and restoration for now and for eternity. John 3:16 is so simple to read, but it is also so profound in its depth of heartfelt love. As a parent, and a grandparent, it seems impossible to miss the reason for our Savior and our faith.
God Bless You
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Walking With God 