It’s the verse you see on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and signs in end zones during field goals. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Christians think that if unbelievers just read that verse, they’ll understand that they are bound for hell and need Jesus to save them. But we’re all experts at ignoring things we don’t like or don’t understand, so when most people read John 3:16, they nod at the beginning (“God loves me? Of course he loves me!”) and the end (“God wants to give me eternal life? Sweet!”). They ignore the middle and keep on living life as usual.
But the middle is the most important part. Between the encouraging declaration of God’s love and the result of God’s love, there are two conditions to receive that love:
- God needs to give us his son
- We need to believe in his son.
If God’s love for us is going to be fulfilled, he needs to give us Jesus, and we need to believe in Jesus. If you want to experience God’s love, it only comes through Jesus.
For most people in the world, that sounds way too narrow and restrictive. Too conditional. Shouldn’t God have unconditional love? A love that overlooks anything we do, say, or believe? Why can’t he just pour out his love on everyone like raindrops?
Because raindrops aren’t a very effective delivery system. When you want to get a drink of water, do you go stand outside in the rain with your mouth open? You could stand there all day, and you still wouldn’t get very much to drink. Those raindrops have to be channeled down hills and valleys into rivers, collected into reservoirs, then finally that water can come through your pipes, out of your faucet, and into your glass.
That’s how God’s love works. You can only get a drink of it when it’s channeled through his son Jesus Christ.
Rain comes and goes, but the steady stream of God’s love through Jesus never ends. “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).