John 3:16 may be the most commonly cited bible verse, showing up everywhere from bible tracts to signs at football games: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."
It truly communicates the greatest news known to mankind. So why don't people believe it? Rather than the expected joy washing over a person's face upon hearing that God loves them, doubt appears. Perhaps it's difficult to believe in love without experiencing it; something's missing or lacking from God's expression of His love to the world. Here lies the challenge I wrestle with.
Those who receive the Son, Jesus Christ, experience new life. Jesus will make His home within us (Ephesians 3:17). If we, then, are inhabited by the power that raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11), should it not also be accurate to say, "For God's people so loved the world that they gave?" Could it be that people have a hard time believing "God so loved the world" because the people of God fail to show it? Shouldn't the world around us be convinced of God's love due to how we live?
Do I love so much that I give? As Jesus states after doing the lowly task of washing the disciples feet in John 13:15, "For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." Christ is our example to follow; comparing our lives to those around us is an inadequate standard for how well we give. For instance, if someone wanted to know about Jesus and spent a day with me since I call myself a follower of Christ, what would they observe? They may conclude Jesus liked to keep busy all day while trying to be nice to people that crossed His path. I could protest, but aren't I supposed to represent Christ?
I tend to fill my schedule with activity, especially "Christian" activity, and feel good about being productive. Yet when I truly contemplate Christ's call to deny myself and take up my cross (Luke 9:23) and how He came "to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10), I cannot remain content with my Christian life. "A servant is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him" (John 13:16). So then, if I try to avoid discomfort and don't seek after the lost, am I not declaring with my actions that I see myself as greater than Christ, that I'm too important to "bring good news to the poor" and "set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18)?
When millions of people around the world remain in physical slavery, how can they possibly believe in a God who loves them when I and the rest of His people are too consumed with our own lives to set them free? As a follower of the One drawn to the broken and outcast, how can I live in a city, right here in Onalaska/La Crosse where drugs, alcohol, and emptiness continue to destroy life after life and not weep, begging for God to use me to reach them? The "something" that's missing or lacking is God's heart within my own that would compel me to obey His call!
"I am the vine; you are the branches...apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Step one is clear. I must be connected to Christ; He is my Source. Next, I ask. "You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2). Well, I want God's heart and His power and wisdom to rescue the lost, so I better ask for it.
For me, that's been a great start. I simply cannot stand idly by while people question if God really loves. I am proof. And my aim will be to prove the goodness of God to the world by laying down my life for the sake of others in Christ's name, no matter how difficult or how much I have to give, because that's what Jesus did.
May we keep "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross..." (Hebrews 12:2).
