Here is a question..... What does John 3 v 16 say? Yes,
that's right:
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, will not
perish but have everlasting life.
Good….
Now, can you quote verse 15?......... what about verse 17?
Have these questions caught you off your
guard? Yes, you are sure you know them but just
can't remember them at this moment? I
was stymied.
Let's take this discussion a little
further... besides Jesus, who are the 2 people spoken of in John 3?
When I was a child, my Mother taught me the stories of Bible
heroes. I have a large blue Bible Story
book, which she encouraged me to read. The
knowledge gained was very useful when, in my teens, I participated in Bible
quiz competitions with Youth for Christ.
However, as I reached adulthood, learning to quote Scriptures by chapter
and verse became important. This led to
quoting the Word of God from knowledge, albeit not been able to remember the
references. A blessing indeed when one
faces a situation and wants to declare Word over the problem. My Bible became marked as I underlined,
highlighted, made notes and dated verses of importance, which spoke to my soul.
Soon the story (content) of a passage of Scripture was forgotten.
Why did Cain kill Abel? How
many times did Joshua and his army march around Jericho and then what happened?
My Mother was very particular about the content of a passage. She said that if a verse began with the word WHEREFORE
or THEREFORE, go and read the verses BEFORE and get the full story.
The first section of John chapter 3, is the story of Nicodemus,
who came to Jesus in the night. Jesus
told him he must be born again. Did you
know that Nicodemus assisted in the burial of the body of Jesus after the
crucifixion?
The second part of John chapter 3 find John the Baptist speaking
to his disciples about Jesus.
There is so much to be learnt from the stories in this chapter.
May I encourage you to start reading the stories of the Bible again? Teach them to your children. Consider the humanness of each character. Put yourself in their shoes. Learn from the lives of the Bible
characters. Make them your own.