We are told words have power. Some words step right into the darkness and alter the trajectory of a life.
When Nicodemus slipped in to see Jesus in the dead of night he found the sun at noonday. He came with honest questions: Who are you? How can a man be born a second time? Although he was a teacher, he found himself woefully inadequate to answer the big questions, or as someone recently said, “the questions behind the questions.” His brief encounter with Jesus, however, left the world with words that have become the source of hope for billions and billions of people over the centuries. Words that explain the why, what and how behind everything.
For God so loved the world…
Nicodemus looked for a candle to light the confusion in his mind. He discovered something more powerful than the brightest laser beam in the universe. An inextinguishable light directing him to the source of truth. The source of hope. The source of peace. For God so loved the world…
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel world-weary. It can be pretty ugly at times. I hate seeing all that is good and pure and lovely mocked. I want to distance myself from people who find pleasure in bashing my faith. I grieve over children being turned into sex slaves, over injustice trumping justice, and deception masquerading as truth. I’m sure it saddens Jesus, too. But instead of withdrawing from the surge of darkness, he runs straight into it, offering redemption.
For God so loved the world…
It’s the kind of love I want to cultivate. Recently I heard someone publicly ridicule Christians. Nothing new in our present culture, but this time, I didn’t react the same as I have in the past with sighs and moans of disgust. Instead, I prayed for the woman. I don’t know whether my prayers affected her, but they did affect me. Rather than building resentment toward this person I disagreed with, I experienced a new compassion. A compassion made possible due to one unshakeable fact.
For God so loved the world…
Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us. Please help us cultivate your kind of love for this dark, hurting world.
Throughout the Day: Pray for the next person you hear or see who ridicules believers. Ask God to show him or her the same love he has shown to you.