Pondering John 3:16-21.
Good news! Great news! Marvelous news!
God gave, at great expense, His one and only Son to the undeserving. Why? Because of His extravagant love. God’s desire is to rescue and save us from ourselves. His heart responds to our brokenness with the cure that brings wholeness and holiness.
And there is another gift we’ve been given that we take for granted. Our Creator gave us the ability to choose. We can choose good or we can choose evil. We can choose life or we can choose death. We can choose darkness or we can choose light. We can accept His Son or we can reject Him. We can agree Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves, satisfying the penalty for our sin. Or we can disagree. But what one believes or chooses not to believe doesn’t change who Jesus is and what He did. It doesn’t change the truth that we are loved by the one, true living God.
It’s difficult to understand God’s ways. His abounding love, His holiness, His justice, His mercy, and His grace are so far beyond our ways. I like what St. Augustine said. “Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.” We don’t have to understand to believe. That’s faith. But when we believe, we connect to God and begin the journey of learning and understanding.
I’m confused when people say the Christian faith is one of exclusivity because the well known verse, John 3:16, actually declares something to the contrary. “Whoever believes” sounds inclusive to me.
So now for the bad news. Those who choose to reject the Son will perish. And as much as some want to believe that perishing means annihilation, it’s not the intent behind the word. We were created for eternity. While you and I cannot see beyond death, life continues. Those who choose to reject God now, will discover their choice is honored. They will forever be unable to enjoy His presence.
A non-believing friend once asked me to describe hell. I answered, “The Bible describes hell as a place of torment and agony. I don’t know much more than that but if I try to imagine what my greatest torment would be, it would be living in a place where I could catch a faint glimpse of the beauty and grandeur of God, yet know that I can never, ever enter into His presence. And then, what if I kept seeing replays of the countless times God wooed me, protected me, and shouted, “Believe!” while I rejected Him time and time again? That would be hell!
I heard it suggested that this life could be the closest a non-believer will ever come to experiencing heaven. And this life is the closest a believer will ever come to experiencing hell. Ponder that thought!
You are dearly loved and desired!
debponders 
Your description of hell is very thought provoking. I have always thought of it as an absence of God, but for one to be able to see the “beauty and grandeur” that we will experience and not be able to be a part of that…wow! That brings it to a whole different realm. Once again, thanks for causing me to expand my thinking. We are so blessed! The thought of others not coming to eternity with God makes our mission of winning others to Christ even more urgent!
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I think my imagination was once sparked with this terrible thought when I read the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31). Regardless, I agree that God’s presence will be absent. Thx for your thoughts.
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I too love what St. Augustine said, “ Seek not to understand that you may believe but believe that you may understand.
There are times when I just read and read to understand what the Word is saying to me and sometimes it is hard for me to comprehend, but I still believe, because God’s word is there for me to trust, even if it is hard for me to understand it now. I may come back to that passage at a later time and my eyes are open to it. That is the beauty of reading God’s word. The Spirit will open my eyes for understanding at the right time but I must trust and believe what the Word is saying.
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