Do You Believe This?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

John 3:16 is as basic truth of faith as we can go. God loves us, we believe or we don’t. As a child it was the first verse I memorized in Sunday school, but after giving my life to Christ, asking Him into my heart, accepting his gift of salvation through believing that He died for me and rose from the dead to give me life I haven’t done a whole lot with that verse. Oh I still believe in it, and I still claim it and I know it’s true, but today and what is going on in the world where it’s ok to believe in everything else but Jesus Christ; there are even Christians who believe that if you don’t go to their church you aren’t counted in the “whoever.” This verse comes back to me.

I don’t know why, but I woke up with this verse on my mind earlier than the alarm was set for. There are things that I have been able to believe by faith and I don’t question them. God’s grace has covered me all my life and I have been so blessed not to have experienced some things that I’ve heard that many have. I have been in church all my life, been taught the Bible stories even while I was in my mother’s womb. Before I was born I have heard songs, stories and sermons about the Bible and Jesus, from beginning to the end. I am so grateful, because even though I have made mistakes along the way I know that this has been a significant influence and has protected me from even greater mistakes and bad things happening.

I know that there are people out there maybe even you who have experienced bad things that you had no control over and you wonder why the grace of God didn’t cover you and protect you. I’m so sorry that I cannot offer an explanation to you, but now is the time to trust that His grace will get you through whatever it is you are going through and the strength to overcome every bad thing that has happened in your life. His mighty power can be at work in you if you will be one of the “whoever.” John 3:16 is an open invitation to anyone of any race or religion. You cannot work your way into grace, you cannot get to the Father any other way than through Jesus, God’s Son. Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent” John 6:29 He knew it would be work for us to believe in Jesus, because we have to believe it in faith.

Working and service comes through loving Him first and loving Him comes after accepting His gift and learning what that gift is all about. It doesn’t matter what your background is, how you were raised, what religion you are, where you live, or anything else, God’s gift is free for the asking. He said whoever believes in Him. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Do you believe this? That is a hard thing for some people to believe, because we don’t understand it. To never die is impossible, right? People die every day. How does God expect us to believe in something as impossible as never dying? That sounds crazy, one day this life as we know it will end, life will leave our body and the body will die, but if we are one of the whoever that believes in Him, we will live. It’s all perfectly strange and wonderful at the same time. God loved the world, you and me and everyone in the world so much that He gave His one and only Son to give us life through His death and resurrection, that whoever would believe would be saved. There is no limit in Heaven, there isn’t a certain number of people and once that number is reached the rest of us are excluded. Heaven’s capacity is unlimited, it’s an open invitation for whoever who will believe.

For God so greatly loved and early prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) son, that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. John 3:16 (Amplified)



In HIS Time
Teresa