“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Knowledge often leads to a deeper love. The more we understand a person and know a person, the more we gain an appreciation, and ultimately love, for them. When we know their story and the things they love and care about, we often develop a greater love for them. The same is true with our love for God. The more we know Him and the more things we know about Him, the greater love we will have for Him. As we learn more about Him every day, one thing that He constantly reiterates is just how much He loves us.
John 3 is a well-known chapter of the Bible where Jesus explained just how much God loves people. Here is what He said: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (verse 16). Many of us are so familiar with John 3:16 that it loses its wonder. The truth is, this verse is stunningly beautiful. God loved the world so very much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. This is the best news we could ever receive. God showed His great love for us by sending Jesus to earth to die on the cross and rescue us from our sins. There is no greater love that we could experience than this.
The sacrificial love that God has for us is life-changing. It is transformative. It changes us from the inside-out. The more time we spend with God, the more we understand His love. This then leads us to love God more and more. After all, how can we not love God when we understand the depth of His love?
Spend some time today reveling in God’s love for you. It may take some time, but write out all of the verses from the Going Deeper section below on a sheet of paper. As you write these verses out on paper, spend time reflecting on just how much God loves you. When you have written these words, say a prayer thanking God for His love for you, and say the words, “I love you back.”
Read John 3:16-21(NLT)
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
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