Rockfest Day 3 - Sunday Contemplation

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever belives in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). That sentence is perhaps one of the most well known and often repeated scriptures in the bible. The scripture is so well known that the text is no longer necessary, just the citation will do. “John 3:16” can be seen on posters at sporting events and sprayed on road signs.

The trouble with such familiarity is that we tend to take the familiar for granted. I do.

John 3:16 is a short passage but it throws out a mighty big message. God so loved everyone in the world – those present and those to come – that He sacrificed His Son’s life to save ours’.

Would you do that? Would I do that? I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it. During Lent each Spring I give up doing something I enjoy as a way to honor God, but let’s face it giving up wine or chocolate for 40 days is not really in the same category.

I don’t think God is asking me to sacrifice my live or the lives of my loved ones for Him (although there are one or two loved ones I wouldn’t mind sacrificing). But perhaps the thought here is to try and not take His sacrifice for granted. To recognize that what He did was big, so big and loving, I cannot in my finite imagination imagine doing it.

Because remember, God knew before He did it what Jesus was going to be put through, how Jesus would be treated and how Jesus would die. That was the point of His coming. It wasn’t just that God gave us His Son, it was that He loved us enough to sacrifice Jesus for us.

When I think about those I love and think about me doing something like that, I know it would crush me and I could not do it. And that’s when it hits me just how much God loves me because it did crush Him and He did it anyway.

That kind of love I never want to take for granted.
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