Okay to be angry

"God loved the world so much," said Jesus, "that He gave it His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him can live forever with God. God sent His Son into the world to save it, not to judge it. Whoever does bad things turns away from the light, but whoever does good comes toward the light, to God."

"God loved the world so much," said Jesus, "that He gave it His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him can live forever with God. God sent His Son into the world to save it, not to judge it. Whoever does bad things turns away from the light, but whoever does good comes toward the light, to God."

What do you think God is like? Some people picture God like paintings of Jesus -- a friendly guy with a beard and a white robe. But lots of people think of God like a stern old judge who watches everyone, waiting for them to sin and getting angry.

God's not like that. In fact, we know a little bit about what God is really like because Jesus told us in this week's Gospel (John 3:14-21).

People might think God is mean because they're scared of God. God can do anything, and it can be scary to know God's watching us. It's easy to think God expects people to be perfect -- and will take revenge by doing bad things to us if we're not perfect.

In the Gospel story, though, Jesus said that God the Father sent Him to Earth because God loves us so much. Someone who loves you enough to give up His Son for you can't be really angry with you!

If you're wondering what God looks like, here's an idea: Picture the person who loves you most in the whole world -- your mom, your grandfather, your best friend. How does that person look at you? Do their eyes light up? Do they smile just because you're around?

God loves you much, much more than that -- and Jesus said that all we're supposed to do is love God back, to be good and love each other. If we do that, it'll be easy to picture the love for us in God's eyes.

(03-27-03) [[In-content Ad]]