Grace and peace to you from God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
We continue with our meditation on the Gospel for the Day.
This morning as you sit beside Jesus as a reminder of your presence in the narrative, Jesus looks at you and begins to talk John 3: 16-21
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its saviour. Whoever believes in the Son is not judged; but whoever does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in God’s only Son. This is how the judgement works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. Anyone who does evil things hates the light and will not come to the light, because he does not want his evil deeds to be shown up. But whoever does what is true comes to the light in order that the light may show that what he did was in obedience to God.
This is a well known verse often used by Sunday School Teachers as a memory verse for children. A reminder of how much God loves each of us. All we need to do is believe. God sent His Son into the world as our redeemer. It is a redemptive love that embraces our world. Are we willing to hold onto Jesus? Jesus was God’s gift to a lost world. We need to turn from our sinful ways and acknowledge the living loving God that we serve. Is that not what the journey of Lent that we have just completed does for us? We repent and seek God’s grace and mercy. We are shown here the breadth and width of God’s love. When we sin, we sin against the law of God, but the sin of unbelief is committed against the love of God. What more do we need in order for us to believe in the Good News? I find myself being reminded here of our Easter vigil, the lighting of the Paschal candle and the words, “The light of Christ”, and the people respond, “Thanks be to God”. A reminder of us turning from darkness to light once we encounter the Lord and make Him ruler and author of our life. You know where the Lord sort you and found you. How He revealed His love for you through His presence in your life today. Thinking of the church in darkness and suddenly this candle burning, a symbol in a sense for some as faith as small as a mustard seed. Our faith starts small and as we journey with God it grows just like that Paschal candle lighting each others candle showing how His light and love spread over all. No more darkness, but light remains. When we know how much He loves us we find it so easy to Trust Him in all areas of our life.
Let us pray:
Lord thank you for your love for each of us. As the song says, “You a good good Father, its who you are.” You know each of us by name and our challenges and needs. Thank you for a verse that is mentioned by many more than any other verse in the bible. Your love was shown on a cross. Allow us to embrace and share that same love with those around us. Open our eyes to the changes that need to take place in our lives. Where any unbelief may exist may you remove it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
(By Deacon Bronwyn Kirk)
