Acquitted!

John 3: 16-19 (MSG)

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

Sometimes we view God as an angry judge, waiting for us to do something wrong so that He can condemn us. Talk to an atheist and they will tell you that they don’t want to believe in a God just waiting to send people to hell for being human. But this passage of Scripture tells us this view of God is entirely wrong. God isn’t an angry judge, waiting to condemn you. He isn’t a God who wants everyone to follow Him or else He’ll send them to hell. God is a God of Love.

And this is His great love for us, that while we were still sinners–standing in opposition to everything God IS–Christ died for us, that we might be reconciled–brought back to the same side as God. God doesn’t want to destroy us. He doesn’t want to condemn us. He wants to set us free. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ allows God to declare anyone who accepts it as “NOT GUILTY” of ever having sinned.

We serve a God who creates; He does not destroy. He has gone out of His way to demonstrate His love and creative desires by establishing a way to bring the world back to the way He created it to be. That’s grace–God’s unmerited favor upon us. We participate with Him in His restoration efforts when we acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of our life. That changes everything about us, and we change the world around us as a result. It’s a choice we make to accept God for who He really is, or to look at His great love and refuse to accept it. What choice do you make?

Father, I thank you that you have such a great love for us that you would do anything for us to offer us the chance to be near you again. I thank you that even when we were your active enemies, you sent your Son Jesus to die on our behalf so that we could have a way to peace with you. You do not want anyone to be destroyed. You want all of us to come to repentance and to have peace with you, with ourselves, and with each other. You want us to have a full life full of freedom and blessings. Thank you, Father. You are a good, good God. I accept Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf. I believe that the only way I can be reconciled to you, God, is through the blood of your Son. There is nothing I can do that would be good enough. So I accept your free gift. I want Jesus to run my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.