My Devotion

My DevotionSuper Amazing Love

By Liz Omondi | Email: timestodayke@gmail.com | Image courtesy: pixy.org

John 3:16 “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.” This is probably one of the most quoted and memorised verses in the Bible. Numerous songs have been sang about God’s love, poem written and recited and plays and movies acted out. Even atheists can recite this verse without error. So common it is that we could easily not even meditate it.

As Easter approaches, this is one of the verses that will be on every ones lips along with other Scripture verses that capture God’s amazing love. But recently when I heard this verse being recited, one word in that verse got me thinking. That word is ‘whoever’. “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

My thoughts wandered in the amazement of God’s super amazing love, the Creator of the universe, that He would come down to my level, suffer for my sins and for all mankind, the good, the bad, the downright ugly and still give me a choice, that ‘whoever’ believes. How can it be? I asked myself. With wide open arms, He says, ‘I love you so much’, and as I stand there, He still gives me a choice, it is for whoever.

Isaiah 53 gives a graphic image of this super amazing love. The Scripture says “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender [a]shoot, And like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we would look at Him, Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him. 3 He was despised and abandoned by men, A man of great pain and familiar with sickness; And like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.

4 However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, And our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated. 5 But He was pierced for our offences, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, And by His wounds we are healed.

6 All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all to all on Him. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted,Yet He did not open His mouth, Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off from the land of the [f]living For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?

9 And His grave was assigned with wicked men,Yet He was with a rich

man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the Lord desired to crush Him, causing Him grief; If He renders Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will [l]see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, For He will bear their wrongdoings. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the plunder with the strong, Because He poured out His life unto death, And was counted with wrongdoers; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the wrongdoers.

God demonstrated this super amazing love for all, yet it is for whoever believes in Him. He does not coerce anyone to accept His love. Though this love cost Him His life, it is for whoever. It does not matter your socio-economic social status, your age, or race, gender, tribe, or the citizenship. It does not matter how bad you have been, or how good you may think you are. God does not discriminate. His arms are open wide accepting whoever.

The entire Bible speaks of God’s super amazing love, His faithfulness, His goodness and would not want any of us to perish. Looking at the events going around our world, it more evident we are indeed living in the last days.

Peter explains it this way in his 2 Peter 3:8-13, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

I pray that we will all accept this super amazing love and not miss out on the super amazing reward. “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.”