“For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him
is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because
they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into
the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were
evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the
light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done
has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:16-21)
On my last devotional, I have mentioned that we cannot go to the
kingdom of heaven if going to the heaven is our priority. Our priority should
be Jesus Christ, and then kingdom of heaven should be the second matter (John
3:16-18). Yes, I understand this but what about non-believers? Could they
go kingdom of heaven, also, since God is the perfect illustration of love and
wants to bring everyone into His Kingdom? No and Yes. It is true that God wants
everyone to have eternal life, but if He is the Ultimate Creator (Genesis
1-2), He has to be the Ultimate Judge as well. Imagine if God brings
everyone into His kingdom, including evildoers, but they may destroy what He
has intended it to be. If this happens, it loses His reputation, and this adds
no meaning to our earthly Christian lives.
According to the commentary on the book of John, John
3:19 connect to John
3:18 as the verse
19 explains the reason of the condemnation. God demolished ‘the darkness of
ignorance’ by sending His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, as the light of the world
(John
8:12), so people may know the truth. This is like a relationship of teacher
and student. I have been taught of managing my time rightly as I always have
been sleeping past midnight. However, I guess I did not listen to my teacher
and continue to sleep late as I got used to live according how I want to live,
like finishing everything what I need to do regardless of time. Although my
desire has been to fix my routine in sleeping early, I did not discipline
myself in putting actions to them, even though fixing my routine may take a
while. Therefore, my heart has been deeply rooted in darkness of ignorance.
Now, I realised that doing everything I want to do within a day is impossible
for me, so I have to put specific hours in my routine, such as eating dinner
earlier than 8:00-9:00pm and reducing my computer time after dark. I think
fixing my routine will be a lot harder while I am studying, so I think it is
good to practice in managing my time during holidays.
Meditate on John
8:12 and ask yourself this question: ‘Do I have any determination to follow
Jesus Christ, the true light of the world?’
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