-Strength for Today- "The Rescuer of Our Souls." - John 3:16.

    When Adam sinned automatically there arose a spiritual separation, (Genesis 3:3), in that Adam and Eve’s created likeness was gone due to their act of disobedience. But even in this vile stage, God never said, “oops,” because even before He breathed life into him, He had a plan. And due to His nature of love, (1 John 4: 8), it’s divinely evident that:

·       He loves us the way we are, but

·       Too much to leave us in depraved disparity.

     There’s nothing shallow about God’s unconditional love. Nor is His love like a magic wand, that’s waved over a problem and with a “whoosh”, it’s gone. Unconditional love has staying power.  It’s authentic, and it refuses to look the other way. It always “opts” for working through any state of division. Nor does it cop out when challenged. Because the love of God is:

·       Characterized by His nature, of God, which is,

·       Able to withstand anything that shows up in His universe.

    The writer of Proverbs says, “Haltered stirreth up strides, but love covereth all sins” –Proverbs 10:12. In the Garden of Eden, Satan stirred up the mind of Adam with his hypocrital pretense, that he sought not:

·       God’s righteousness, but

·       Disobediently,

   And willfully obeyed the hater of God and man, and in doing so, he was sentenced to die – Romans 6:23a. Even though we take John 3:16 out of context, it’s not hard to see why, because it’s packed with the realities of God’s love.

    On the one hand, verse 8 says that God the Spirit blows where he wills and makes alive whom he chooses.  God is free. And it is He, and not us, who has the final, decisive say in who among the spiritually rebellious and dead will be raised to new life. None of us deserves to be made alive. And none of us has the power to make it happen. Therefore, if anybody is rescued, God does it.

    In that, “God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” 

   So I ask of you, you:

·       Do you live in the forgiveness and life and freedom of John 3:16?

·       Are you free from the fear of death?

·       Does the wonder of being loved like this shape your relationships?

    I’m not asking if you’re giving lip-service to this verse. But do you live it? Is this your life? Does everything you do permeated with this verse?

So if you’ve made peace with God, through His Son, may He grant you such faith., to believe this promise of John 3:16, so that you can receive the treasure of Christ and “everlasting life.”

Author: Plez Lovelady, PhD

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