Journey to the Cross

Pause

The world is changing. When time passes between meetings, you see that friends and family are changing too.

And you are changing as well.

In these next moments, open your heart to God, who is seeking more than change in you, but transformation—something truly new.

Listen

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

John 3:16–17

Think

God’s boundless love for the world, for all of human existence, is expressed in these familiar words that follow the story of Jesus and Nicodemus. The Gospel writer is talking about the way God loved the world, which points us back to John 3:14. Suddenly, that Moses and the snake stuff makes more sense. God loved the world in this way: God lifted up Jesus in the same manner that Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness to cure people bitten from snakes in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4–9). So God lifted up Jesus “that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

John 3:16 used to be seen at sporting events on a sign held up by a man in the crowd. Today it could be a Gospel message “tweet” with just 131 characters.

We have the promise that Jesus, the Son of God, came to bring light and life to the world. That seems enough to broadcast to the world.

Sharon Ely Pearson

Pray

God, thank you for the promise of eternal life. Thank you for loving us so much you became one of us and died to give new life to us. Give me strength to stand with you at the cross so I may rejoice with you in your resurrection. Amen.

Go

God's light is powerful, revealing
The way to new life,
A new birth by the power of the Spirit.

Walk into your day, then, with new questions
Received with infinite love,
Leading towards a life of righteousness.

God's steadfast care will provide.