The Heart of God John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. Judging people solely by actions can lead to inaccurate conclusions. Have you ever longed to look inside someone’s heart to understand what he’s really like and what his motivations and beliefs are? Of course, we need never question God’s motives; divine righteousness requires that He do the right thing in every circumstance. Yet the Lord wants us to have an ever-deepening personal relationship with Him, which does necessitate our knowing His heart. To make that possible, our Father has revealed Himself through His Word. But not everyone reads the Bible. As a result, we live in an age of misinformation about who God is, and confusion over His character, forgiveness, and gift of eternal security leads many to disregard Him. If you want to understand God’s heart, look at the cross, where both His justice and mercy are demonstrated. The Father is perfectly holy; therefore, His just and fitting sentence for sin is eternal separation from Him (Matt. 25:41). However, He desires fellowship with man. So how does a holy, just God interact with sinful, rebellious human beings? He prepares a perfect, sinless substitute to bear not only mankind’s guilt but also the punishment each one of us deserves. Christ’s death made it possible for us to be declared no longer guilty—our sin debt has been paid in full, and that payment is applied on our behalf when we receive Jesus as Savior. God’s justice demanded that His Son undergo the worst punishment possible: separation from the Father. Jesus’ sacrifice led to the greatest blessing—that God’s mercy could be poured out on us.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:49:11 +0000
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