Unashamed Reading Plan – W2D5
Check out all the previous Unashamed readings here.
Unashamed Reading Plan | Week 2 | Day 5
Prayer
As you come to spend time with Jesus, calm your mind and body until you feel fully present. Thank Jesus that he came to save you!
Bible Reading: John 3:16-21
Read these verses three times slowly.
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Reflection & Questions
We finish our readings this week, with the most famous verse in the Bible John 3:16. But maybe the verses after it aren’t so familiar. As we’ve been reading what is wrong with the world this week, these verses from John are a fitting contrast of what is wrong with the world and how gracious God is.
God “gave his one and only Son”. God did not send Him to “condemn the world, but to save the world. All it takes to be rescued is to believe – whoever believes! Those who believe don’t perish, but have eternal life! They reach 10,000 years and they’ve just begun! How good our God is!
But even with all this offer of grace and goodness, the Bible isn’t surprised that some will walk away. They will stare at the light and they will turn around because they love “darkness instead of light.” Yes it can be scary to come into the light – will God really forgive me? But this isn’t their problem – it’s that they don’t want to give up the darkness. What a powerful hold darkness has on people’s lives! We’ve got to pray and share; persevere with our ONEs. For in an instant, they can come from darkness into life and be saved!
- Why do people not want to come into the light? Do you remember a time when you were like that? What changed for you?
- What have you learned this week as we looked at what is wrong with the world?
Prayer
Talk to God in response to the reading today.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Bible Reading: John 3:16-21
Read these verses three times slowly.
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Reflection & Questions
We finish our readings this week with the most famous verse in the Bible: John 3:16. But maybe the verses after 16 aren’t so familiar. We’ve spent this week reading about what is wrong with the world, but these verses show us how gracious God is in this dark world.
God “gave his one and only Son.” God did not send Him to “condemn the world, but to save the world.” Even though people are out there making bad choices, He still gave them the opportunity be saved from the punishment of a sinful life. Through His son, Jesus, we can be saved and have eternal life.
But even with this offer of grace and goodness, these verses show that some will walk away from it. They will stare right at this beautiful gift, this light in the darkness, and turn around because they love “darkness instead of light.” Yes, it can be scary to come into this light that Jesus shines on us. Will He actually forgive us when all our bad things are seen in the light? But for those people who turn around, away from Jesus, they don’t want to give up that darkness, the bad decisions that they keep making.
So what can we do? We can keep praying and sharing with our ONEs. In one quick second, they could turn away from darkness and be saved!
- Why do you think that people don’t want to turn away from the darkness, the bad choices that they make?
Pray
Thank God for giving us a way to be saved from our sins!
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
