Opening the Hand

After my mother was sure I had memorized the 23rd Psalm, she taught me John 3:16.  Slow down and say it aloud with me, "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."  Some say it is the gospel in nutshell and, perhaps, it is.  What I know is that I learned it almost before I have memory of having memory and it still lingers around in the memory that brings back memories to me again and again.  It is, indeed, a powerful and life changing verse of Scripture.    

What I also remember is the discovery of the verse which follows it.  John 3:17 says, "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."  John 3:16 might well be the most memorized verse of Scripture in the Bible and John 3:17 might well be one of the most forgotten and ignored.  It is always easier for us to point a finger at what we regard as someone else's indiscretion, or sin, without ever looking in the mirror long enough to see our own.  The letter to the Romans helps us in this matter as it says, "...all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and "There is no one who is righteous, not even one..." (Romans 3:10)  It seems we need to open up the hand that points so it can be a hand that receives.   

Jesus did not come for the business of condemnation, but for the business of salvation and deliverance.  He did not come to point out our failures, but to point out our possiblities.  He did not come to trap us in the sins of our past, but to deliver us into the hope of our future.  After Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, He said to them, "...you also should do as I have done to you."  (John 13:16)   As Jesus has given us grace, so are we to give grace to one another.