Running toward the road

Jesus, help me listen to you, the way God the Father wants me to. Amen!

"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."

Have you ever seen a little kid go running toward the road, paying no attention to all the cars? That kid's parents automatically drop everything to run after him, stopping him before he gets hurt -- even at the risk of getting hurt themselves.

If a parent will do that for a little kid, imagine what God would do to steer us away from danger!

Actually, we don't have to imagine it: Jesus tells us in this week's Gospel (John 3:14-21). Jesus says that God the Father loves the world so much that when He saw how people were getting kind of lost, forgetting about God and hurting each other, He sent His Son Jesus to straighten things out.

Anyone who sees a kid running toward the road feels terrified that he'll get hit by a car. That's why adults shout and run to stop him as fast as they can.

Like any father, God the Father loved Jesus and would never want to see Him get hurt. But in the Gospel story, Jesus explains that God the Father sent Him into the world as a person, knowing He could get hurt the way any person can, because God the Father knew how much the people in the world needed Jesus to save them.

God loved the world so much that He let His Son get hurt because it would help us. So, when Jesus reminds us to do good things and get closer to God, it's probably a good idea to pay Him back by listening!