Familiar verses, but do we understand their implications to the purpose for which God gives us breath?

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His ^[a]only begotten Son....¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  (John 3:16-17)

      You might say, “those are great evangelistic verses,” and they are, but they are more than that to those who are born again.  These familiar verses tell us about the heart, the desire of God...namely, that all people are loved and important to Him.   Here’s the point...the Christian must never think he or she can live in some kind of a “spiritual basement” and avoid sharing the gospel with the public whom God loves.  If we say, “I want to serve Jesus” then we must know Jesus’ heart and His heart is that we value every person enough to tell them they can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19-21).   This is Chamber’s point in  My Utmost for His Highest:

      “Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. 

     We are so glad to be part of the “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” group, but are we equally aware of Jesus’ heart of sacrificial love for the public around us?  If we say, “we will follow Jesus,” His heart should be manifest in our own priorities of sharing the gospel with those around us.  My prayer for you and me this morning is this:  Lord, may the love of Christ become so strong in our lives, that we cease becoming “basement Christians” and love people enough to share the gospel with them.  Amen

Steve Green’s song reminds us:

We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right
What could be too great a cost
For sharing life with one who's lost?

Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear
They must hear the words of life
 Only we can share