Hope

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.—John 3:16

Whether or not you’re a believer, there’s a good chance you have heard this verse.  Many of us memorized it as a child, likely in the King James Version.  Sports fans hold it up on signs, dusty semis on the interstate have it ‘written’ in the dirt on the trailer door…this verse pops up in what may seem unlikely places.  Why is that?  Why is it this verse over any of the others?

In a popular faith-based movie, the statement is made, “Atheism doesn’t take away the pain, it just takes away the hope.”  The hope that is found in John 3:16 is the hope on which we hang every part of our faith.  First, hope is found in that God loved.  God is not merely a mean and vengeful being planning to smite us for every mistake we make.  No, He loved.  Who?  The whole world.  He continues to love every person on this planet, whether they believe in Him or not, whether they call another far less worthy being their God.  I believe this verse, though, focuses on a moment….a moment that God made the choice, out of love, to do something drastic.

What was the drastic thing God did?  Keep reading the verse.  He gave.  The second way we see hope in this verse is that God is an incredibly generous God.  He gave his one and only Son.  If you are a parent, imagine that.  He allowed His only child to die for someone else’s benefit.  I love my girls so much that I would die to save them, but would I hand them over to face death on someone else’s behalf?  I’ll be honest.  I couldn’t do it.  

Why did God make this choice?  That’s the third way we see hope in this verse—God is forgiving.  Without His drastic choice, there would be no way we could overcome all the mistakes we make, no way to get back to the God who created us.  He wants us to be with Him and did whatever it took to make sure it was possible.  His Son was the only sacrifice big enough, holy enough, and perfect enough to wipe out all our mistakes, to take on all our bad, and replace it with all God’s good.  

That’s a lot packed into one sentence.  Perhaps that’s why it’s displayed and quoted so often.  Realizing the gift of hope can be ours is where faith begins.  Accepting it is simple-simple enough to fit in one sentence—we just have to believe.