Are you looking for answers to your questions?  To your problems?  To your emptiness?

I was…until I found the answer.

There is one sentence in the Bible that tells us the theme of the whole book. “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.” John 3:16

If you want to remember just one verse of the entire Bible, this would be it.  This is the Gospel, the Good News     

God loved us so much that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for all of our sins for all time on the cross.  Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, those of us who put our faith in him can have an eternal relationship with God which starts here on earth and ends in heaven …. forever.

This is the best and most important news anyone can ever hear.  People who are not Christ-followers don’t know it, but they are looking for Jesus.  They might think they are looking for a better job, a better spouse or a better house, but they are really looking for Jesus.  We were all created with a God – shaped hole which only God can fill.  There will be an emptiness in our lives until we accept the salvation offered by Jesus and live in his Light.

This emptiness explains a lot of what we’re seeing go on in our world right now, doesn’t it?  People are looking for something and they aren’t finding it so there is growing anger, frustration, confusion and unrest.  Evil thrives in this kind of environment.  This will continue until they look to Jesus to fill that hole.  He’s the only answer.

I cannot remember a time in my life when it was more important for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus to share our stories, share the Good News, share our trust in God and share that we know how this story is going to end.  Judging those who do not know Jesus is not the right response to what is going on.  Jesus tells us today that loving those who haven’t accepted the free gift of salvation yet – like God does –  is what we are supposed to be doing.

God has already claimed victory, we’re just living through the mess that Satan is masterminding.  Satan is winning some battles, but we have nothing to fear – God has won the war.

Amen!  Hallelujah!