Lent Day 9: Love and light

> Why did Jesus come into the world? John 3:16 gives us God's "Why:" LOVE. God hates the sin that separates him from his creation. Listen to this:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

> God is perfect so he cannot tolerate sin and unrighteousness. Jesus is God's solution. Jesus is proof that God doesn't want to condemn you. He doesn't want you to die in the sins which harm and twist you into unrecognizable brokenness. He intends to make you whole - and wholly his.

> God's love is the reason Jesus came to live among us. God wants you to live forever with him. Yet because God is completely loving and completely righteous, he lets you choose your destiny.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

> I've been following an artist who paints portraits of people who walk by. He asks if he can draw them, then asks them what they wish they could tell others. Many answer: "I wish people would leave the darkness behind, that they would be full of light." 

> But the light they want is of their own making. They want light to shine from the darkness they have chosen to live in. They refuse to live in God's light or align themselves with God's righteousness. Scripture notes:

Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. ...

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. [John 3:16-21; 35-36] 

> Your choice. Live in God's light? Live in darkness.

Love the Son as God loves you? Or reject him and perish - live away from God for all eternity?

The choice is yours. God loves you so much that he let's you choose. He will not force you to accept his forgiveness. You can - and will - decide your destiny: God's way or your own.

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