“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”John 3:16 (KJV)
God did not wait for the world to become lovable. He loved it while it was still in rebellion, and He proved that love by giving His Son.
The most familiar verse in Scripture is also the most easily skimmed. Read it slowly and it becomes almost alarming. God loved the world. Not a nation, not the religious, not the deserving. The world, in the state it was actually in.
Notice that the love is proved by a gift, not by a declaration. He gave. Love that costs nothing proves nothing, and God did not offer us the cheap kind. The measure of His love toward you is the value of what He was willing to part with.
The offer is then thrown open as wide as language allows: whosoever. Every barrier a person might imagine, whether background, failure, education, or history, is left outside that word. If you can believe, you are included in it.
So the question this verse leaves is not whether God loves you. It is whether you will receive the Son He gave. That is a decision, and it can be made today, wherever you are sitting.
Father, thank You that You loved the world while it was still turned away from You. Help me to receive the Son You gave, and to stop trying to earn what You have freely offered. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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