John 3:16- The Divine Summation

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God intended to give mankind eternal life in the beginning, but mankind botched that, right out of the starting gate with Adam and Eve. God took away their immortality upon Adam and Eve’s original sin of eating from the Tree of Good and Evil. From then on, God left it up to mankind to decide individually as to who would pursue the righteous path and who would commit to sin.

But God determined that not everyone knew of Him, and not everyone who did know of Him pursued a righteous path. He tries to reason with those that did know of him, but only some listened.

So, he sent a son on a mission, the only son that could measure up to the task, to let the world know of God’s Glory as He always intended that that would be the case. So His Son began spreading the Word, and the Word became part of the Scriptures, known as the Breath of God.

And His Son and his followers gave instructions to mankind, revolving around two great commandments...that we love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. God wants to love us, but we must have faith in Him in order to earn His Love. Once we reach the state of faith in him, all else follows, including the things we do as a reflection of our love for Him.

Lord Jesus and his followers gave us a code of conduct to abide by, to keep our love for God. And they encouraged us to, proclaiming things like Romans 8:28 which says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God is on the side of those who love Him, and He will stand by us to weather our storms and see us through our travails, trials and tribulations. And although it may appear He abandoned us in our plights, He is really looking to bring us into His House forever. But our time on earth is mandatory, much like with kids in finishing school sent there by their parents so they may return home as respectable members of society. And as our time on earth is mandatory, we are forbidden to premeditatively end our time here, unless it is to risk our lives for our friends.

It is interesting that we are first made aware that God may love us, in Genesis 24:12 in which Abraham tells his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, and the servant, going off with his master’s camels, says “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham” and in the passages that follow asks God to help find a wife for Isaac. So we become aware, even back then, that God would be motivated by His love for us in doing things for us. He was so motivated then, as He was motivated to freeing the Hebrews from Egypt, as He was so motivated when He sent the one son, His only son, who was capable of bringing the world around to loving Him who loves us.