---

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me work hard on whatever I'm giving up or trying to do different for Lent. 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."

Lent started a few weeks ago. If you've given something up or you're trying to do something differently for Lent, you know how hard it can be to make a sacrifice. There are probably times when you don't want to do it, and it's really hard to make yourself keep your promise.

This week's Gospel (John 3:14-21) is about the biggest sacrifice ever: God the Father sending Jesus into the world to teach everyone about God. After God the Father "gave up" having Jesus in heaven for a while, Jesus gave up His own life when He was crucified.

In doing that, Jesus showed how incredibly much God loves everyone. We know that God would do anything for us, because He did!

Lenten sacrifices can say a lot about people. Did you choose something easy, like giving up dessert when you don't have much of a sweet tooth anyway? Did you choose something too hard, like promising to visit a lonely old person every single day, when you know you probably won't be able to do that?

It's a good idea to choose something that really is a sacrifice, but not something that you'll struggle with so much, you'll give up.

For Jesus, though, nothing was too big a sacrifice -- and He didn't just want to make a sacrifice Himself. Jesus wanted us to "turn toward the light:" to do as He did and try to be the best people we can be. That means working through our own struggles. It also means finding a good sacrifice to make for Lent, and following through on it![[In-content Ad]]

---