Don't forget 3-17

Okay, let's start with a confession....
I spend the better part of my adult life knowing only one book-chapter-verse from the Bible. Bet you could guess that it was John 3: 16. The problem was that my knowing that verse came from watching NFL football games when the cameras panned in on the gentleman in the multi-colored afro holding the sign JOHN 3- 16. I am quite certain that I didn't even take the time to look up that verse in the dust-collecting Bibles on the shelves at my home.

Well, things have truly changed, praise God! I'm still terrible at memorizing Scripture, but I can finish many verses when they are started and have gained a pretty fair knowledge of the Bible.  John 3-16 Is a verse that is familiar, I would suspect, to a great many people, whether they are converted Christians or not. It is the declaration of the willingness of God to send His Son into this world to provide the only answer to the rift that exists between God and mankind.

But wait. There's more. John 3: 17:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. KJV

There will be a judgment. That judge will be Christ on a day when many many people will cower and be afraid. That will be judgment against those who refused to accept the reign of Jesus Christ as Kind, Lord and Saviour. 

His initial trip to this world was for the purpose of doing the will of the Father, a will that provided hope of salvation and restoration of His creatures into a relationship with God. IN a moment before time there was a covenant among the Trinity creating this plan. Jesus was the one who delivered it, giving Him sole power and authority to save His people, as His blessed name suggests.

Condemnation is basically a refusal to give up ones selfish life for adopted membership in the family of the most High God. It is a refusal of everlasting time with Him in a place we cannot see- a place too wonderful to imagine. 

So in light of John 3: 16-17, if you have not opened your heart and surrendered to Jesus Christ, I invite and implore you to do so without delay. Find a church, be baptized and repent those sins that separate you from a God who is all too merciful to refuse anyone with a heart-felt desire to be His own.

Praise our God.