Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Advent Words Day 10 ~ Believe

 


Day 10: Believe

"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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17

 


Today’s post is part of one I wrote a few years back. When studying this well-known verse I noticed a pattern I has not seen before. It bears repeating. 


The pattern we see in this verse is:


God loved.

God gave. 

God sent.

God saved.

  

Our word today is an important word in the Bible, and no more so than in the Gospel of John. John uses the word ‘believe’ 98 times in his gospel, that is more times than in the other gospels combined and more than double its use in any other New Testament book.

 

At the end of the book John stated his purpose for writing it this way:

"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John 20:31


John's whole message in his book is about showing us the proof that Jesus is the Son of God, that He was sent to the world by the Father and that salvation comes through Him to those who believe in Him. But why is belief in Jesus so important to John? Let's dig into the answer to this question using our passages for today and the pattern I mentioned above.


Let's first look at what these passages tell us about God. First we see God's heart, "For God so loved the world...". Love is both God's motivation for His plan of salvation and His demonstration of it. He loved, so He gave. He gave, and in giving He showed His love. What did He give? A gift that was a great sacrifice for Himself personally. He gave us His Son, His one and only Son. He sent His Son into the world so that we would no longer be condemned to perish, but would instead be saved by His sacrifice. When we think of gifts this Christmas, we need to remember the greatest gift ever given. The gift God so graciously and lovingly provided through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10



God's love led to His sacrifice. His gift brought us salvation. Our part is to believe the Son and receive God's gift.. Tomorrow we will look more at this gift. 





Share you responses on Instagram using #adventwords2020 or in the Words Art & Faith Challenge group on Facebook.

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