“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.” John 3:16 is one scripture we can recite by heart because we see it everywhere from readings in churches to placards at sporting events. But have we understood it’s significance well enough to know that it applies to us?
Let’s break this single verse down.
The problem Jesus solves perfectly is the problem of sin. Sin separates us from the perfection required to enter the presence of a perfect God. And, throughout all of our failing, God’s love for us remains perfectly intact. This unfailing and unblemished love for you is proven in Jesus’ willingness to suffer instead of seeing you suffer. He took the penalty of sin that we truly deserve and placed it on His own perfect shoulders. He then served out our death sentence in our place, and He completely expunges our record.
This is the love of God each of us needs to apply to ourselves personally. In the awareness, understanding and embracing of His unconditional love for us, we’re empowered, enabled, and blessed with a genuine and compelling desire to go out every day into a messed-up world and love people unconditionally. And this is, at its very essence, applying the two great commandments to ourselves – Love God, and love people.
But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 Amplified Bible
