Only a Billboard Slogan?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 – Is it a billboard slogan, a bumper sticker, a football player’s under-eye reflector … or a summary of the Christian message?

Reflecting upon that simple sentence takes away my breath and breaks open my heart to nearly bursting; it stretches my mind to its limits while trying to grasp the mystery of that Love. “God so loved the world”: all His creation and all people, past, present and to come. (That includes us, by the way.) Loved/Loves not a class, not a category, not a group, but each one of us individually.

He gave His only son. God became mortal, a man, the greatest of gifts, given to us to make right our relationship with Him. God is searching us out, inviting every one of us to belief and ultimately to eternal life in that ineffable mystery we call the Trinity. Holy Trinity, one God, three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, a relationship of infinite Love. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:13).

God so loved __________ (insert my name/your name). Isn’t that awesome and astonishing! How can I not accept the gift, believe despite not fully understanding, and respond with love and gratitude and joy? 

–Monica Thursam

Send Us Forth are reflections written by St. Matthew parishioners and friends.