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For God So Loved The World (John 3:16-21)

 The mystery to end them all is this: Jesus came into the world to die for us, because He loves us. The Father sent the Son to us, because He loves us. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, because He loves us.

There is a mystery in the word "believe." What does it mean to believe? It can't be just knowing and acknowledging something to be true. We know of people who know many things to be true, but they choose to do something opposite of what they know to be true. But think about a time that you heard someone say to someone else, "I believe in you." A person who says this has complete trust in that person. They are not saying, "I acknowledge the reality that you exist." They are saying that they trust such a person with something or someone that is very important to them.

Believing in Jesus is a total trust that changes how we understand our entire lives. We can trust Jesus with everything that we are. It's a lot like a baseball team that sends its best starting pitcher to the mound in a deciding game. When the ace is on the mound, everyone plays better, and is full of confidence. Jesus is our ace, but unlike even the greatest pitchers, he never loses. That's how he wants us to trust him.

What about this condemnation? Isn't it a little wrong for the supposed God of love to condemn people? Yet we know that we are sinners, and we should think about what would happen if we were measured against perfection. Jesus has told us that he will answer for us before the Father. He has told us that no mistake we could ever make is too big for him to take away. There is only one thing that could happen, if we--who have no righteousness or justice of our own--tried to answer for ourselves: we would be condemned. Therefore, it's not so much that the God of love is sending us away; rather, He is giving us the right to choose to stand on our own, even though that is foolish.

We know what happens when we are ashamed: we run and hide. Adam and Eve did this, after they disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. But it's very different when we know that God loves us and forgives us. We come into the light, because everything good that we are gives praise to God.

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