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Theo Tigno•
4/30/2003 8:27 pm
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2003 |
John 3: 16-21
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
Dawg's thought:
If we wanted to know what is love, we would look at the cross.
God does not hold back. For some reason, when it comes to love, we all have the tendency to hold back. Fear reigns in our hearts and continues to entertain the lies that hold true love back. God the Father did not hold back as He watched His Son die on the cross. Jesus Christ did not hold back as He gave His life on the cross.
We all want to learn how to love, although we do it in strange ways. The movies tell us that sex is the ultimate way to love, yet chastity is so much more of an act of love. Our pop culture society would rather let us think of love in the shape of a heart, not the shape of a cross. Hopefully, as Christians, we know better.
If we wanted to know what is mercy, we would look at the cross.
We know that The Crucifixion of Our Lord is an act of mercy. Of course, that means that we needed to be shown mercy in the first place. If we needed to be shown mercy, then everyone else we come into contact with needs to be shown mercy as well. There are many people out there who are in need of mercy, and we continue to hold onto the fact that we are right and they are wrong. If Christ thought that, we would be lost.
We are all called to be merciful. We must ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of understanding so that we may be merciful to our neighbor, and just as importantly, ourselves. I know that some nights I lose sleep because, although God can show me mercy, I cannot be merciful to myself. I continue to dwell in my sinfulness instead of turning to God in His mercy. That dwelling is pride. We must all recognize that we are sinful and we all do wrong. There is nobody that doesn't need the merciful act of The Cross.
If we wanted to know what is truth, we would look at the cross.
"Whoever lives the truth comes to the light." There are many things that we keep hidden from the world. You know that place I am talking about... that place of shame that we dare not expose to the world. In those places, we continue to live in lies. We are not called to live in slavery no more! We are called to be a light, and those called to be a light must be willing to abandon the old ways of lying and adopt the yoke of Truth. No matter how painful the cross was, Christ did not hang on the cross in shame. People mocked Him while He hung on the cross, yet He was not ashamed of the The Truth. We was willing to bring to light the sins of the world by hanging on a cross, beaten and bloody. He brought the truth to light with no shame. We are called to do the same
If a picture can say a thousand words, what words come to mind when you gaze upon the cross? "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son." Take care and God Bless.
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