An Old Familiar Passage

   What is undoubtedly the most familiar passage in the New Testament?

  

   This is it in the King James Version, the one I grew up with.

   "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

   Here it is in the Message:

   "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."

   How about in the New Living Translation?

   "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

   How about the New King James?

   "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

   And I could go on and on with different translations of this one verse, but the question that follows is, "does it make any impact on my life?"

   Is it so familiar that it has lost its power for me? Is it just another set of words that I believe, and I do, but that I don't pause to really try to understand?

   There is a real danger in the familiar.

   John 3:16 is a powerful verse. I try to image how it sounds to a desperate man who hears it for the first time. It is like a raft that floats up to him as the water is about to close over his head, and he reaches out and grabs, knowing it is his only chance for life.

   God loved and God gave, for me.

  I pray that these words will never become just words in a Book, but will always be real in my life, real because He did it for me (and you).