“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.” (John 3:14-21)

We live in a world that often times makes us feel like that there’s nothing but darkness. It’s quite understandable when we see all of the godless things that are happening in our country alone. It can make one start to believe that there’s no just no hope whatsoever. It’s no wonder that not only non-believers feel hopeless, but even we as believers are finding ourselves feeling somewhat hopeless.

But then comes this gospel that reminds all of us of the great love that God has for His children. After all, even non-believers have seen and heard John 3:16. But there’s so much more there than just that one reminder that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to save us. John 3:16 has almost become “cliche'” over the years, which is really sad when you come to think of it. And it should not be that way. It has so much more of a deeper meaning to it and far too many make it shallow, something to throw out there to show they’re believers. But we need to make it more reverent than we do because it leads us to the hope that we seem to be so lacking today in our world.

It’s really important that all the sentences of scripture before and after John 3:16 are so relevant to our lives and it should give us cause for celebration to realize how much God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us. Understand that if God didn’t want to be in relationship with you He would never have sent His Son to earth to end up suffering for your sins, not His sin, for He was without sin. God so wants a personal relationship with you, me, all of His children that He was willing to sacrifice His only Son just to have that relationship again.

This scripture alone proves that God is not distant, God is not uncaring, God is not lacking in mercy, nor is He condemning. He proves that by stating He did not send His Son to condemn the world, even though we deserve it, instead He sent His Son to save us because God doesn’t want us to perish, He truly wants for us to have eternal life with Him.

We need to look at this as one of the most grace filled and merciful acts anyone could do for His children. And the only thing that He truly asks from us is that we turn from our dark ways and believe in His Son and if we come into that light and believe in Jesus Christ because by truly believing in Jesus will not only keep us from being condemned it will also reconcile us with God Himself and then we can have that personal relationship that God so wants to have with you, me, all of us.

Accepting Jesus into our lives is the most important step for us to take in order to regain hope in our lives. If we truly allow Him into our hearts to guide us no matter what darkness lurks ahead, the light of His love will always provide for us the hope that this world so needs and then it’s through us, those who have come into the light, who can bring that same hope to others who remain in the darkness that Satan is spreading all over the world.

I know at times the way the world is headed seems far too off the path of Jesus than we can handle or even begin to make any changes. I know there are times I feel overwhelmed by all the evil I see every day and I feel like giving up, especially when it seems like no one is listening. But then I read something like today’s gospel reading and I immediately feel revitalized. Because I know that God is telling me to “Knock it off. It’s not hopeless, just look up.” And that’s when I realize of course He’s right, just look up and He’ll be standing there holding out His hand to pick me back up.

So, if you are feeling hopeless right now, know that all you need to do is look up and His light will shine upon you, grab His hand and let Him lift you up out of your hopelessness knowing that your faith and belief in Him will save you and then turn around and shine that light on others, the world needs us to show them this truth.