I am very familiar with the verse John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."(ESV) I learned it when I was a young girl sitting in a Sunday school class. This verse was a pillar of my faith journey, First I was able to hear the verse, then memorize it, proclaim belief in it, and finally recite it for others. It is the most beautiful verse that reveals God's heart for us and the depth of his love. I did not really anticipate that rereading John chapter 3 would be very revealing to me. I thought I would breeze through this chapter with nothing new to learn or think about. I was wrong of course and that mistake has made me appreciate again how the word of God is alive and speaks to me in new ways every time that I stop to read it and really open my heart to it.
Over this past year, it has troubled me when I have heard about famous pastors or worship leaders who have professed their disbelief in a God that they have spent most of their lives loving and serving. When I read articles about why they no longer believe, some of them talk about how they just can't believe in a God who would punish or condemn people to hell. They can no longer believe in a God who is angry and wrathful, who will create man and then condemn man to suffer punishment. It is almost like they now see God as more happy to condemn than to happy to love. In my heart, I know that this is not the God I serve. I know that he loves the world, John 3:16 spells it out so plainly, yet I have not had a clear answer to this question of why a loving and good God condemns us. However, as I read verses 17-21 again this week, where Jesus himself speaks of condemnation, it is here that my heart feels it has found an answer. An answer that these questioning pastors and worship leaders are searching for when looking out at a world that only seems to reflect suffering, greed, anger, division, and loss.
While reading John 3:16-21, I was reminded that God's only plan is to show his love for me and to save me. He does not wish me to perish but he wishes that I have eternal life. His desire to save me stems from a truth that I, and maybe those who are falling away, have forgotten. The truth that God is good and in his goodness he wants what is good for me but it is I that desire the opposite. I am like the child who wants to do all the things mom and dad tell me I can't and God is the parent who wishes to protect me and prevent me from harming myself. Condemnation is not found in Jesus but is found in me. I am condemned only by the nature of my own heart to love darkness and reject truth. Jesus himself said it this way,
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
and if Jesus said this, then I can trust that it comes straight from God because Jesus only said what God his Father told him to say while he was here on earth.
God has known since the garden that the heart of man bends towards its own will and way. He was there when Adam and Eve disobeyed him by eating the fruit. He understood that it was their selfish desire and rejection of his instruction that caused consequence to them. This rejection and selfishness is in the bible again before the flood. The bible says that man had corrupted its own way and caused violence on the earth. After the flood when God was making his covenant with Noah, God said "the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen. 9:21 ESV). If God only desires wrath, he would have just left it there. He would have left man to his corrupted way, to endure the natural consequences of his corrupted actions, and God would have been overjoyed in punishing man with eternal condemnation. However, the verses after John 3:16 say otherwise. These verses show me that God's plan is to save me and every person on this earth from ourselves. Do I have to let go of my love of darkness? Yes. I have to let go of loving myself, of being selfish and putting my own pleasure ahead of loving him, following him, and serving others. Do I have to believe in Jesus? Yes. I have to believe that Jesus came to fulfill this plan of love and salvation. I have to believe that he is the artifact that proves that God desires me for relationship with him and wants me with him forever. Do I have to come to the light? Yes. I have to come to Jesus of my own understanding and desire. I have to love him and accept his truth. The truth that God is for me. God loves me. God desires relationship. God wants good for me, he wants to save me. God wants me to be with him forever.
I take comfort in the words of Jesus which reveal God's heart and his plan. His words are the truth I need to see when the world tries to say that God is something he very clearly is not. Jesus' words are the answer to the question "Why would a good and loving God condemn his creation?" Jesus tells us a good and loving God does the exact opposite of that. He saves his children, just like I want to save mine when I see them making the wrong choice. He loves his children and understands their nature, just like I love and understand my girls. He gives of himself, of his life to protect his children- just like I would give my life to protect mine. Knowing this about God causes me to rush into his arms, to believe in his Son and his plan, and to trust that I will not perish after my days on this earth are done. I have found the answer that fills and quiets my heart during times of question and uncertainty and hopefully this answer will fill and quiet your heart too.
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