December 7 – John 3 : 16-17

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

One of the first Bible stories I learned as a young child is the story of Noah and his Ark. Who could forget such an angry God, such a blessed family, or such a legendary dove? The premise of the story is very simple; we all know it. God had become angry on account of the sins of man and regretted his creation of man. His solution was to cleanse the earth of all humans, with the exception of Noah’s family. The sins of man were too grievous to be rectified, so instead, God almost erased mankind, giving us a chance to start over, to do better. We got a second chance, barely. Fast forward a few thousand years, and mankind is once again sinful. History seems to have repeated itself. However, this time, God decides to do things a little differently. He decides to sacrifice his only Son rather than force mankind to start over again. Why? We discussed this question briefly in Sunday School a few weeks ago, but since that small conversation, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this obvious contradiction in God’s behavior. Why would He change completely and choose forgiveness (at the cost of his son) over justice when humans were the ones at fault? The only answer I can come up with is love: unconditional love for humans, for our potential, for our faults, for our insecurities, for our past, and for our future.

John 3:16 says that God loved the world so much, he gave us his only Son. His Son wasn’t sent to condemn us, but to save us. We can have eternal life through him. He is for us. His purpose is us. Jesus was sent to earth as a direct result of God’s love for mankind, despite our disobedience and sinfulness. While he was here, Jesus did a lot of amazing things, but the most important thing he did is unconditionally love people. No one was exempt from grace and redemption through Jesus Christ. He loves each and every one of us so much that he suffered excruciating pain, pain we can’t even imagine, to pay for our sins, our white lies, our road rage, our bad days. He died for our worst qualities. This leads me to ask myself, if Jesus died for the worst parts of me, why is it so difficult to try and follow in his footsteps sometimes? Why can’t I love others with even a fraction of the strength and dedication of Jesus’ love? Because I’m human. We all are. We’ll make mistakes (maybe even twice). We’ll do the wrong thing. We’ll sin. But this is what God sacrificed his only son for. This is what God loves us for, our humanity. No human will ever be perfect except the one who walked this earth so many years ago. And that’s okay because God loves us enough to take care of us anyway. A once-vengeful God (the one who scared four year old me with stories of justice and anger and destruction towards sinners) transformed into a forgiving and loving God who sacrificed his child for each of us specifically. He will never give up on us, and, if one thing’s for sure, he’ll never stop loving us. I pray that in this Advent season, God reminds us to love Him, love ourselves, and love each other. Unconditionally.

Written by Katerina Massengale
What am I passionate about at Heritage?
I’m passionate about is our youth group. I cherish having a loving, caring, and supportive group of people willing to help me grow as a person and as a child of God.