Changed by Love

Changed by Love

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

There is a reason we do not use our best china for every meal. In our house it was because we had just one set, it was an heirloom, and Mom knew that eventually we would chip or break nearly every piece of that set. (I know, I asked her several times as a kid while stabbing green beans off a melmac plate.) Alright, for those born after 1975, “Melmac” was molded dinnerware that looked like hard plastic. (It had nothing to do with “Alf’s” home planet).

Now, with dinnerware and allusions to mid-80s sitcoms out of the way, there is another reason we don’t use the china every day; it begins to lose its luster the more we use it. I don’t mean the shine that is on the silver and plates themselves, I’m talking about the luster in our own minds. The more we eat pancakes off of it instead of roast turkey or ham at Thanksgiving and Christmas only, the more we think of the china along the same line as our inexpensive plastic-ware.

That, I fear, is what can happen with this jewel from Scripture. As lovely as John 3:16 is, as full of God’s love and the invitation to believe we hear it, repeat it, make bookmarks of it, and send our children home from Sunday School with it around their necks so often, that…in our minds…it can lose its luster. The most beautiful and powerful expression of God’s invitation to us is mingled with our everyday things and we forget why it means so much to us.

It ought to always occur to us that “God loved the world” is the most amazing fact of everything in the universe. If we woke up each morning, looked out the window at rain, fog or sun, and reminded ourselves “God loves the world”, what a change it would make. We are not asked to remember that “God loves me”, but that God loves the “world”! When I consider only myself the object of His love, I can still act out in silly arrogance. But, knowing it is “the world” He loves, I learn to take on the same attitude. I, who am less than God, have no reason to judge anyone more than He would.

“He gave His One and Only Son” reminds us how personal, how incredibly near God comes in His love. He does not love us from way out in heaven with some sort of cosmic emotion. He came near in Jesus, shared our same flesh and blood, emotions, and needs. Jesus knows what it is to be tempted, though without sin. He knows the sorrow of loss and the joy of new beginnings.

Beyond all that, though, He gave His life. What impact does that single thought have upon you? He experience the agony of thorns spliced into his head in a cruel “crown”. His flesh was stripped by repeated beatings. He was spat upon, mocked, and with the anguish of the slow death of crucifixion, He suffered the entire weight of the world’s sins upon Himself. How can we treat Him as if He is simply everyday plastic-ware? How can we not give all we are to Him who bore such grief for our own sins?

But this wasn’t just so you and I could escape fiery consequences after we die. That is the sad mistake many make. He did die so that “everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” This “eternal life” is the style of life you are living and breathing here and now; this very moment while you read this article. It is a life that is entirely different than all others.

You see, “I believe in Jesus” is not about repeating it like “I believe in Fords over Chevys.” Please don’t miss the point that to believe in Jesus means there is a change that has taken place. It means we cannot wait to find other believers to share our faith. It means we no longer act out of anger when mistreated. It means we seek out the first way to act that shows God’s love whenever we are presented with a choice. It means that, since the God of the Universe loves me so deeply, I should truly think about how I return that love.

Today, re-memorize John 3:16; but now, not just because it is the most famous and loved verse of Scripture. Let the words sink deep into your heart and ask yourself the simple question: How do I respond to One who loves the world so deeply? If I truly “believe in Jesus’, what change, today, will that involve? Think deeply, and then respond. It will change your life.