13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:13-17, CEB)
This passage is often quoted or shown on signs at sporting events, or at least one verse is.
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him won’t perish but will have eternal life.
Which means if I don’t believe in Jesus, I will not have eternal life and will perish. And if that was the end of the Bible or the text that would be true. But it isn’t the end.
Jesus continues with verse 17, which I think is way more important in the whole understanding of our lives.
God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Jesus didn’t come to judge us for everything that we did wrong. Jesus came so we might be saved. Might. Not if you don’t believe you will perish, but the ability to be saved. Jesus came to save the world. Not to judge it.
We make the Bible out as a book we have to follow or wee will be damned to hell. No the Bible is a source to help us see who Jesus is and how Jesus wants us to live in this world. And it is a help to point us in the direction of Jesus who came so that we might be saved.
Jesus loves you as you are, created by God and beautifully and wonderfully made. Know that you are loved and Jesus came to save you.
aSacredRebel 