But do we hear it?...

I can't believe I haven't posted on here for three weeks. It kind of indicates a spiritual slump I've been in, for a while. But this has been on my mind for a while, and it just kind of kicked me to write about it. We start with a wee bit o' familiar Scripture...

"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, NIV)

John 3:16. Yeah, that verse.

We see it all the time, don't we? People at football games hold up "JOHN 3:16" posters so national TV will see it. You see it in the most unbelievable places (I'm including a few images for fun...). And I'll bet at least a half-dozen people reading this will read the first 4 words, think, "Oh, yeah, John 3:16," and skip right over the words. Yeah, we know it.

But do we hear it? Do we really take the time and the care to HEAR these words, and believe that they apply to US, today?

There is an idea in Christianity (and has been, for a while, actually) that we are unlovable by God, except through Jesus Christ. That without Christ, we are unbearable to God in our sinfulness. That the only way God can bear to see us is "clothed in Christ." Sad to say, I've heard an awful lot of preaching done on that very theme - even by some Lutheran pastors, who ought to know better.

But look at the first five words of that first verse, will you?...

God loved the world. AND, please note, God loved the world BEFORE he sent Jesus to it. It is, in fact, because of God's love for the world that God SENT Jesus to save it. In fact, throughout the Bible are messages that God loves the world. We are "fearfully (awesomely) and wonderfully made."

Now if you're at all like me, there is a tiny voice inside the back of your head that says, "Yeah, that may be true for them, but not for me..."

Yes, even for you. And me.

A wise friend of mine used to say, "Look around carefully, and realize that God's grace is available to everyone in the room..." And that made perfect sense to me. Of course, I'd heard that a thousand times.

And then he'd pause a bit and say, "...and like it or not - believe it or not - YOU are IN THE ROOM...."

I'm not sure what's crazier - that God loves us all with an unending love, despite our best efforts to deny it - or that we continue to struggle with accepting that love.

Thank you, God of mercy, for the gift of your love today. Help me, and each of us, to hear it, and believe it, today. Amen.