God So Loved the World
"Can a holy God overlook our mistakes? Should a kind God punish our mistakes? From our perspective, there are only two equally unappealing solutions. But from God's perspective, there's a third. It's called 'the Cross of Christ.' The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.
"How could he do this? In a sentence: God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. ' God put on him the wrong who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God' (2 Corinthians 5:21 MSG). Why did he do it? Because 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son' (John 3:16 NLT). Aren't you glad the verse doesn't read 'For God so loved the rich?' Or 'For God so loved the famous?' No, we simply (and happily) read: 'For God so loved the world!" And you and I are included in that love!
~ By Max Lucado
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