16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [e]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the [f]only begotten Son of God. 19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
O - Jesus spoke this to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Jesus acknowledging he is from God, but trying to understand Jesus' teaching. Jesus softly rebukes him for wanting to learn more heavenly things, when he can't even understand the earthly things he has seen from Jesus. After this rebuke he reveals to Nicodmemus (and to the world through this passage) the salvation of mankind from their sins. The only thing man has to do is believe in Jesus for Jesus came to be the light to the world, but if men still love the darkness more than the light they will be judged for this.
A - This message was not intended to condemn people but rather describe a truth. God is light, and Jesus is the light of the world. He has been revealed to the world and yet many still choose not to follow the light, and there are consequences for that ( a life in darkness). God is telling us there is a way, but He is also telling us the one true way - through Jesus, we can find our way out of darkness and into a life full of light. This can be a tough message for non-believers to hear because they don't like a God that would judge them, but what they don't realize is how merciful God's judgement is, that you only need to believe in the Son that he sent to save, and forgiveness and life in Christ will be everlasting.
P - Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, may it be sealed to my heart. I pray Lord that you would help me in teaching the Gospel to those that do not know you, especially with my sister, whom I think is ready to receive you, but just needs the right person and the right words to convince you. I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.
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