For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16, English Standard Version (ESV)
This is an extremely famous Bible verse. Almost anyone would be able to quote it despite maybe not knowing where it is in the Bible. Many people are familiar with it, but I’m not sure how many people actually understand what it means, or take the time to soak in the depth and truth in these words, particularly the first part. For God so loved the world…
When most people read this verse they are too busy thinking of the fact that they are sinners and that for them to be purified before God, God’s Son had to die. They read it in guilt, through the eyes of the condemned. But condemnation is not what is ringing through this verse, love is. John 3:16 is a declaration of love. What it is telling us is God wanted to save us because He loved us. God loved us so much that seeing us die from sin and slowly getting separated from Him hurt Him. He didn’t want us dead or far from Him so He sent His most dearest and only Son to come and take away our sin so that we could live, and be with God again. God is shouting that He loves us through this verse, and throughout the Bible actually.
If we could understand this it would make a drastic change to the way we relate to God. And it will open our eyes to His true, beautiful and good nature.
But before that can take place we need to adjust our views of two things- God and sin.
God Is Not The Bad Guy
What prevents us from believing God loves us is how we view Him. When most people think of God, they envision a big man sitting on a throne in the sky waiting to blast them away with lightning when they do something wrong. Or they see a Great Being who is interested only in what we can do for Him. But that is not who God is, God is loving, patient and merciful and there is plenty of evidence in the Word to support this.
The first book we can turn to that speaks to us about who God really is, is Psalms. Who would know more about God than David, the man who was after God’s own heart? In Psalm 145:8 he writes of God
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. English Standard Version (ESV)
This is a perfect picture of who God is and what He is like, and it matches the picture of the God that is painted in John 3:16. This God is not looking to punish you, but He is gracious and patient and looking to love you.
There are numerous other songs that David wrote in Psalms that also declare God’s nature, and countless times they describe God as being slow to anger and full of loving-kindness and mercy (which is written in some translations as steadfast love). Psalm 143:8, Psalm 136
Another place we can go to see exactly what God is like is in the New Testament Books -Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Whilst these books are about Jesus, they still give us great insight into the nature of God because Jesus is the express image of God. Hebrews 1:3
Jesus interacted with the people of earth with compassion, patience and love. I mean, he ate with tax collectors and sinners; He touched the hands of lepers. There was no hint of scorn or contempt in these actions. This is also exactly what God is like.
If this is not enough evidence that God loves you, you can turn to 1 John 4. In this book John speaks explicitly about God’s love. In it he clearly declares that “God is love” 1 John 4: 8
So you see, God is not some bad guy sitting on a throne waiting to catch you out. He couldn’t possibly be because all these verses tell us plainly, simply and truly that God is love.
But knowing that God is love will mean nothing if you don’t let it change your relationship with God and how you respond to Him. And one thing that could be preventing that change is your view of sin.
Sin Is Not A Problem Anymore
So many people are still living like Jesus didn’t come and sin is still a problem. What do I mean by that? We focus so much on what we do, believing that if we are righteous enough; good enough, we will earn eternal life. We look at sin and believe that we should still be carrying it’s burden. But that is not the way it should be.
What we need to understand about sin is that it was the barrier keeping us from knowing God and experiencing His love, but when Jesus came He took it away. That means we don’t need to be worrying about sin anymore because Jesus dealt with it, all we have to do is do what John 3:16 instructs us to – believe in the Son. We don’t need to do anything but that and then eternal life is ours. Jesus removed the power the Law and its philosophy of working for righteousness had on us. When you understand this, you can stop striving and just bask in God’s love, because that is what God want us to do. In fact it is why He made us – to love us and for Him to love Him back.
Why We Were Made
You see, we were made to live lives of fellowship with God; to receive His love and love Him back. It sounds too simple, but it’s true. You will realise this when you look at Adam and Eve.
From the start Adam and Eve understood their purpose for being. They knew that all they had to do was fellowship and commune with God in the cool of day and enjoy the world He had created for them. All they had to do was be loved by God and love Him back. They didn’t have to do certain works to experience this. It’s the same for us. If you understand this the way you relate to God will change.
So many people believe that God is only interested in what they can do for Him. I must tithe more, I must give to the poor, I need to start a church. All these statements are often coupled with a sense of guilt that they are not doing more for God. But God is not overly concerned with what you do. He simply wants your heart and to fellowship with you. Now whilst it is good to be doers of the word, it is also important to understand that you can be a doer of God’s word but fail to love or know Him. Just look at the Pharisees.
They did so many righteous works but they missed out on the real blessing –God’s love. The reason they didn’t recognise Jesus was because they didn’t know Him. Why didn’t they know Him? Because they did not know love and God is love. Jesus expressed this love in everything He did but it made no sense to the Pharisees because they did not have or know love.
Now I am not saying that you should stop doing good works because you will become like the Pharisees. But I am saying don’t fall into a trap of feeling that works define your relationship with God. I understand that people often feel the need to be doing something to bring glory to God’s name. But once you dwell in God’s love it won’t matter what you do, because anything that you do will naturally glorify God because you are glorying in His love. You will naturally do good works and follow God’s commandments because you love God. 1 John 5:3
So you see, it’s all about love.
I pray you realise that God loves you. Period. No but or because. He is not waiting to punish you or interested only in what you can do for Him. He really wants to fellowship with you and love you, because it’s who He is. I pray you can accept this, believe it and experience it. If you can, it will change your life and how you live it. It will also change your view of God and you will realise that He isn’t some distant Master and you His slave, but He is a close Father and you are His precious and beloved Son and Daughter.
