Sunday, October 19, 2008

One Simple Fact - God Loves You

One can truly be amazed at the amount of material that is written on the Christian faith. Many of you probably get the catalog from Christian Book Distributors which details the books on almost every subject in connection with our faith plus the faith of others throughout the world. Not only are there countless commentaries and study helps but there are also all kinds of translations and even self help courses in Hebrew and Greek. One would think that there is now no excuse for being ignorant of the Bible and everything connected with it. I remember a book title a number of years ago which was, "No Magic Formula." That author probably thought about things in the same was as I am thinking today. When you get right down to it, there isn't a quick cure for anything other than turning to God's Word. We can know the history of the Bible and we can know how to parse the verbs in Biblical languages and we can know of the variants between this text and that text, but sometimes we forget the basic truth and the comfort that it gives in our lives. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Supposedly, an old preacher was once asked what was the most important thing he had learned over the years. He thought for a moment, and then replied, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Now, some would say that his reply wasn't really that great. Why, even a child can know that! There lies the truth in the statement. Perhaps, we sometimes forget the love that God had and has for us in this life. I felt that way this past week. Not that it was the only time in my life, but it was a time in which I felt under educated and not able to speak in neither Hebrew nor Greek. It was then that the words came back to me from the little child's song. I can find a lot of comfort in that fact. It doesn't become a crutch for me nor does it become an excuse for a lack of study. It just tells me that this is probably one of the most important things in the Bible that I need to know. Maybe that's why Martin Luther said that John 3:16 was the Golden Text of the Bible. Praise God today for the simple fact that He loves you.

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