As I lay down at night to sleep, these words kept ringing in my brain, "love is pain". Words probably inspired by events going on around me. It made me start to wonder and ponder on the greatest display of love ever to grace this planet. And i remembered a verse recited so many times, recited by many but thought about by a few John 3:16.
For God so loved the world: Without discrimination, God loved the world, not the Israelites, not a group of people but the world. The murderers, liars, thieves, name it, as long as u are in this world, God loves you. There are people who may say they are not in the category of people labeled as sinners, but the truth is if we were to pass through the fine comb of a perfect life we would all fall short of the pass mark. God still loves us. I thought of the number of times Jesus said we were to forgive our brother if he sins against us (490 times) and i wonder if we were to forgive someone close to us, our heart 490 times how much more strangers who have no reason to do right by us.
SO many times we have been hurt, things have come up, fights, letdowns, heartbreaks by friends and family and we get so angry we give up on them and I begin to wonder have we passed through anything like what Jesus passed through? Thinking about it over and over again, I don't think so. Let me give u some scenarios.
A friend, a close friend someone who has ate, slept, suffered with you, someone who knows the kind of person you are, a wonderful person betraying you to be killed for money. Judas betrayed Jesus. His life for 30 pieces of silver. Compare that with similar situations in your life (friends gossiping about you, wife leaving u, kids turning against you, name it and think of that feeling) remember this though, Jesus had flesh like us and he knew that he would be betrayed. did that change a thing? No it didn't.
Your best friend looking you in the face when you are in a tough spot, a life or death situation and denying you not behind u but in your face. If it were you what would you do? it didnt change a thing.
Add to that the same set of people you fed from nothing, who saw you heal people, cast out demons, raise the dead and call u king a week earlier now shouting that you should be killed, the people you love with all your heart, saying they don't want you. What more could u ask for? Sometimes in life, I have been disappointed by things happening around me and felt let down by people: friends, relations and family. I realized one thing: It begins to get to you only when u lose d faith you have in them, it chips and eats away at your love and it wears u out.
God gave his only son: he gave his only son for the most ungrateful set of beings in the universe. You would think Sodom and Gomorrah would have learned from Noah, you would think that the Israelites over the years would have learned from their fathers, you would think we walking the earth now would have learned from history but no we keep doing the same things over and over again. Anyone would have given up on us. The time of the flood signifies that it nearly happened once. But no. We have always been given a chance by God. How many times have we given the people around us a chance? How many times have we used the words never again? How many times have we given up what we love the most for people that have hurt us over and over again?
Whoever believes in him will have life: This is the most important part of the whole verse, because it signifies a lot, it was given freely. And even though it was given freely, with so much love and sacrifice, it wasn't forced on us, it is our choice to make. Do u want it or not. DO u need it or not. I believe we all do but that is my belief.
Thinking about it all I asked myself if i have any right to give up on anyone or anything at all and the answer was no। Truth is nothing good ever comes easy, ever ever ever. So the best thing of all although free shouldn't be as well.
