Coffee With God

 

Reflection: John 3: 16-21

We continue to read from the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John. Even if you fail to remember any other verse from the Gospel, today we got one to learn by heart, and that should form the heart of our faith in Jesus. John 3:17 : “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.” The passage speaks of the great hight, breadth and width of God’s love. God’s love is not for just a few nor for any particular group of people, rather, it is a redemptive love that embraces the whole world, and a personal love for you and me whom God has created. Do parents keep an account of all the sacrifices they make for their children? True love does not count the cost; It leads one to make sacrifices, willingly and joyfully. A true lover gives his or her beloved everthing he/she has and the best one has to offer. God proved his love for us by giving us the best he had — his only Son -Jesus. And Jesus, donates his life – sacrifices his life to make us live healthy. God’s giving of his only Son to the world carries a sense of hope and trust on God’s part. It has the sense of entrusting the most precious gift to the often violent and murderous world. God’s gentleness is not dependent on how the world responds. This trust of God also illustrates his readiness to face the vulnerability of loving. God is a loving Father who cannot rest until his wandering children have returned home. Saint Augustine had said, God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love. God gives us the freedom to choose whom and what we will love. We can love the darkness of sin and unbelief or we can love the light of God’s truth, beauty, and goodness. While writing the Gospel over five decaes after the death and resurrection of Jesus, John was aware of the reality that not many people could recognise the love of God the Father and they preferred to stay in the darkness of their sins. Like Nicodemus who came from darkness into light, but could not accept the light of truth and therefore disappeared into the darkness. And that is a reality today as well. Do we love God above everything else? Does God take first place in our life, in our thoughts, and actions?