This morning I was brought to THE Gospel verse in the Bible: John 3:16.

“¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (ESV)

I am sure that most, if not all of us have heard this verse before. I know that this is probably the first verse I memorized as a kid growing up in the church.

The first 6 words in the verse are something, “For God so loved the world”. Yes, God loved “the world”. My commentary in the ESV indicates this to be “an astounding statement” because before now, it was understood in the Old Testament that God loved His people Israel. The world is certainly filled with more than the Jews. All of us, the entire world, are worthy of God’s Love.

And here is what we are all looking for, what’s in it for me (WIIFM). Eternal life. That is some WIFFM. Not gold, jewels, a big house, fancy vehicle, or loads of money. Not even eternal life here on earth so we can enjoy all of those things.

Eternal Life with Christ in heaven. We are still going to struggle. We may not have everything we want. We may be persecuted each day we are on this earth. But it is that eternal life provided from the love God has for us that should make it all worthwhile.

When you look at today, are you able to accept the love God has for you? Are you loving Him back? Are you accepting the eternal life provided by God’s love for all of us?

“⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:4-5 (ESV)

Our life was provided by God and that life should be a light unto the world. And when we are that light, it cannot and will not be overcome by darkness.

Are we allowing that light to be covered by darkness? Are we trying to find our light? Are we allowing our life, provided by God to be a light unto men?

How often do we find ourselves seeking for more?

“¹⁵And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’” – Luke 12:15 (ESV)

How much we have does not make us whole. In fact if you read the parable related to the above verse, you will see, what if you die before you get to use up all of your possessions?

We have enough without seeking to have more. We should remember that God provides for our “needs” and the more is simply our wants.

When you look at your possessions, are you looking for more? Are you satisfied with what God has provided for you? Do you realize you really do have enough in your life?

A fib, a little white lie, omitting the truth. These all seem harmless and all of which we have likely been guilty. But isn’t eternal life with God more valuable than the sins we commit?

“⁴²Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone where hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. ⁴³And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” – Mark 9:42-43 (ESV)

Sin is our nemesis. We are confronted with it daily and it is all too easy to fall into that sin. Even the “little” sins in our lives, the fibs, the little white lies, and the omission of the truth, all of them are sins that keep us from our Lord and Savior.

We have a choice when it comes to sin. We can choose to avoid sin. We do not have to fib. The little white lies do not have to come from us. We can always tell the whole truth.

Will we always be completely wholesome, no, we are human. But, what we can be is repentant. Our hearts should be repentant at all times. The sins we commit may not be known, so we should repent continuously for those sins we are ignorant of.

When we repent, we effectively work to cut off the offending part. God does not want us cutting off our body parts to remove sin. What He does want from us is to avoid sin and when we do, we should be repentant. Our sin should not keep us from living the Christ filled eternal lives that God has in store for us.

What sins are in your life that you could cut out? Are you repentant, or able to be repentant for those sins? Isn’t eternal life with Christ more valuable than the sin in your life?

God is so intentional. I have just started reading the book by Robert Greenleaf – “Servant Leadership” and wouldn’t you know it, God has led me to the passage about that very subject in Matthew.

“²⁶It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, ²⁸even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:26-28 (ESV)

In service, it is about giving of yourself before asking from someone else. Jesus gave the ultimate, His Life, in service for us. He provided for us, His disciples, and the world in His service. Even to the point of giving His Life that we would not have to.

I am so grateful for the love that Jesus provided for me. I feel as though I should be giving more to Him that I have to give. But I am only asked to serve and obey.

That obedience could end in my physical death here on earth, but my life has be saved through Jesus’ service. All he asks of me is to serve, as he gave his life for mine.

Are you looking to serve God? What are you willing to give? Will you serve in order to provide for the lives of others?

As an educator (corporate), one of the things I stress in my classes is that there are no silly questions. If you do not ask, you will not get an answer.

“¹⁶And behold, a man came up to him, saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’” – Matthew 19:16 (ESV)

Here, “The Rich Young Man” is asking Jesus about what he needs to do to get to heaven. Whereas Jesus gives an answer that the man does not want to hear, without the act of asking the question, the man would still be looking for something in all the wrong places.

I have taught sales processes and philosophies and while there are a number of them out there that people ascribe to, the one thing they all seem to have in common is the asking for the sale. One has to believe that “if you don’t ask, you don’t get”. In other words, in order to make the sale, you have to ask for the sale. I think this is one of the keys to getting what you are looking for, you have to ask.

Now, as with “The Rich Young Man”, you may not get the answer you were looking for, however you will get an answer and then you have decisions to make based on the response. You will need to decide if it is worth, to you, the effort, work, and sacrifice you will have to put forth to get what you are looking for. But it all starts with the questions.

Questions are our way of finding out, and we have to be willing to ask in order to get. I use the statement “ignorance is okay because you don’t know what you don’t know, but ignorance by design is a problem, when you choose not to know that is on you”.

Are you willing to ask the questions? Will you decide to discover what is needed for you? Will you ask questions to receive the answers as if your eternal life depends on it?

“³⁸And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:38-39 (ESV)

A bit confusing if you are not a follower of Christ. How can I lose my life and find it? Well, we have to lose our life searching for and indulging in the things of this world and live for Christ who is better by far.

Think about those things in life that give you pause and cause you difficulty. When I think of my life, it is the things of this world; wealth, fame, acceptance. When we are willing to give up those things and follow Christ, we are given a new life filled with faith, hope, and love. All of these things we receive as product of our life with Christ and therefore have an ever fruitful life.

Our search for a life here on earth will fall short as long as we are searching for the earthly life. When we give up our life here on earth for Christ, we are rewarded with a life filled with a cup that does not run dry.

When you look at your life, what have you been searching for? Are you seeking faith, hope, and love? Are you willing to lose your life to find it in Christ?

“¹³Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” – Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV)

When I read the verses above, remember attributing the words “easy” and “hard” more than any other. There is an easy and a hard way to get there.

I recently finished reading the book “The Slight Edge” (Jeff Olson), and the premise of the book is that “steady wins the race”. Doing the little things continuously over time leads to success. Here Jesus introduced us to that principle long ago.

It is not that the way to a successful life is hard, we must remain consistent over time to realize it. Taking the quick shortcut may give us a short term win, but true victory comes from taking the steady route.

I think of traffic on my commute. There is construction that is ongoing. My peers (other drivers) are, like me, all looking for the way to alleviate the pain of sitting in traffic. Some find temporary relief as thy jump on the service road and speed ahead, only to find the light at the next intersection is only let three cars at a time through. Meanwhile those of us that stayed on the highway may be travelling slowly, at least we are moving forward.

We have choices to make in life and those choices directly impact the experience we have. We can choose to speed ahead or steadily work through forward.

Are you looking for the quick way through? Are you searching for the next big thing in hopes of a relief of some kind? Or, are you patiently taking the steady route forward to life?

I have studied the passage below and focused on the essentials of life and God’s provision of those. Today, as I study the life part, it is a bit different.

“²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” – Matthew 6:25 (ESV)

Jesus states here for us to not be anxious about our lives. I admit that it is not easy and I struggle with it every day.

Here are some of the questions that I ask each day as I struggle: Why me? Where am I going? What is next? How will we make it? Am I doing the right thing?

I know, all questions that, based on the Word of God, I should not concern myself with once I have accepted Christ as my Savior. But, as a human, it does not seem that easy. The world gets in my way and I tend to see that which is in front of me and forget that my ticket has already been punched for the greatest destination possible, HEAVEN.

We are bombarded each and every day with things to get us down, like, “You need more”, “You are not worthy”.

The truth is, when we have God, we have all we need, and should not worry about those other things as we continue to do his work and live the path he has set out for each of us.

Where are you today? Are you following the path God has laid out for you? Are you looking to Him for your guidance? Are you working to take out the worry about your life?

“²And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt…⁴But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” – Daniel 12:2 & 4 (ESV)

As humans we find ourselves in a position of seeking to be forever. I am seeking to live my kingdom purpose and want to find myself on God’s side (the right side) of the end times. The only way for me to get there is to accept the gift of salvation provided for me through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That sounds so simple when you write it down. Just a few words in a couple of sentences and bam, pretty easy to attain.

Although is it really that simple? In the verses above, we will have to seek wisdom and knowledge. We have to “increase” in what we know as we look to God’s Word, and if we do not, we are found running “to and fro” searching for something that will not be found.

Our everlasting life is found and delivered by our knowledge. When we are seeking for the knowledge provided by God, we are in a position understanding and finding our kingdom purpose and therefore life with Christ.

Are you seeking the knowledge provided by God? Where are you looking for wisdom? Are you able to have the everlasting life with Christ through your knowledge of God’s Word?