Day 15: The “Now What?” of John 3:16-18
Good morning guys, we’re back at the study of a very familiar passage, but one that has a lot of significance – especially when we work through this process of What, So What and for today, Now What? I want to first read James 1:22-25 as a challenge to you for every time you open up the Bible:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
I hope you take a look at yourself in the mirror before heading off to work each day- I imagine your memory isn’t so bad that you forget if you did your hair or brushed your teeth by the time you get in the car. Reading the Bible is not the point of reading the Bible- the point of reading the Bible is transformation
If we come away with a different response than that, we’re missing the chance to find freedom and blessing from God’s truth. We must come away with a practical application that changes us.
So we’re answering the question – Now what? This question lands us at applying what we learned from the previous two questions into action. Now what will you do with this new knowledge?
For one last time, you can take a peek into the way I’ve answered that question from my study of these verses – You’ll see that what I learn about God’s love and relationship with humanity and myself personally- is sometimes not always how I feel about myself OR how I have judged others.
My “now what” is to take that truth and measure it against how I feel about my relationship with God, to combat lies that the enemy throws at me when I fall, and to make sure I reflect God’s heart towards others who don’t know Him.
You need to take the truth of who God is and the truth about humanity and combat the lies that exist in your own life and in the world around you.
Your discipline training today is to take your now what and go do it- Apply that truth to a situation or lie in your life and to follow up with whoever is going to keep you accountable to make it happen. Maybe you need to make a big change, have a hard conversation – whatever it is, don’t walk away and forget the truth you’ve learned- Go do it and be blessed as a result.
Discipline Training
- Spend at least 5 minutes at WAR
- Consider what long term steps you may need to make to apply your “Now What” take away from John 3:16-18. Make a note about how that truth could change that circumstance or lie you’re dealing with.
For my process with this passage, I learn that God’s desire and activity in our world is to save, not condemn – His love pursues me and sacrifices for me to offer a very simple invitation to have relationship with Him through a response of belief in who He is, through His Son Jesus and what He did on the cross to redeem and restore me from my sin.
I do not and cannot earn that love, nor can I lose that relationship if I will trust and accept that gift. I know from other passages that belief is not simply an intellectual acknowledgment of God’s existence, but is admitting my inability to earn His relationship and my need to trust, love and obey Him as I seek to know Him better with each day of my life.
I want to take that truth and measure it against how I view people around me- to make sure I don’t do the very thing that Jesus hammered the Pharisees about over and over- setting up impossible and unbiblical standards to exclude others or judge others out of a relationship with God. I want to have the same love God has shown me for others around me who don’t know God’s love yet – How can I share that gift with others, help them to believe His Son.
