An Active, Living, and Loving God

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” - John 3:16-17

As Christians and Americans, most of us know John 3:16. Less people know verse 17. I remember the first time I kept reading and got to that verse. To me, it is almost just as important as verse 16.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Our culture is very judgmental. It is also very works driven. This verse seems to go against both in saying that Jesus didn’t come to condemn us for all the bad things we’ve done but to save us instead.

That wasn’t His plan. He came into this world to love and save it. This makes Him so much better than other gods or religions. He is the only God to come into the mess that we have made to save us. He came and lived with us- not to condemn the world, but to save it.

His love for us called Him to action. He could have just left us where we were in our sin, but He came into the world and lived a human life to die for us and save us. No other god in history has done that.

In other religions and myths, gods tend to stay up in the heavens judging humans and ruling from far away. That is the biggest (and best) way our God is different. He isn’t far away, He doesn’t sit in heaven and judge us, He is an active, living, loving God who is moved by His love.

Author | Ashton Brantley