A Lenten Journey: The Wilderness Trail — Day Twenty-Six, Fourth Sunday

John 3:14-21, The Message

In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

The finger-pointing God.
That’s the one we too often
see in our minds,
and send out into the world
with our words.

How about a picture
more like the little boy
up above?
A smile,
just a hint of mischief,
delight in the moment.

THAT’s the kind of God
Jesus seems to know.
Jesus’ God ‘came to help,’
not tell us how bad we are.

Now there’s a mind-blowing sentence.

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