URC Daily Devotion Thursday 15 May 2025
St John 3: 1 – 21
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’
Reflection
How often I have participated in conversations about ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him …’ (John 3:16) Much less frequently has the conversation turned to ‘God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.’ (3:17)
It’s a wonderful thing to know that God intends me (and you) not to die, but to enjoy eternal life. It’s another astonishing, yet more wonderful thing to realise that this is God’s intention for the whole world. Certainly, God’s love is about me, but it’s not all about me.
How great is God’s love, that God loves not just me, but you, plus everyone and everything else. God loves the world – every person, every creature, every element of the land, sea and sky; loves the capacity for interplay between us all, and the ecological systems that enable it.
Or to put it the other way around, how wonderful it is that God loves not just the world, in all its scale and complexity, but also finds space within that love to include me (and you).
Starting with God’s love for the world changes my view of the world. God loves it, so then I should love it, which affects how I treat this world. From this perspective, who and what then qualifies as my neighbour? Starting with God’s love for the world also expands my view of God. How jaw-droppingly immense is God, whose love encompasses an entire planet (which is itself but a mere speck in the immensity of God’s beloved universe).
And in the midst of all of that, God takes time to love me and you so much, offering us not death but eternal life instead.
Prayer
Thank you, thank you, thank you, O God, that your love, which encompasses the entire world, has time and space for me. Knowing that, may my deeds today show how much I love this world that is yours. Amen.