for God so loved the world...

today's reading from my youversion plan is the often quoted john 3:16:
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

i have heard this verse so many times in my life, so i looked up the amplified bible version to see what it had to say:
for God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

i think this gives us an even clearer picture of why God sent Jesus to earth for us. the phrase "clings to" really resonated with me when reading the amplified version because i feel like recently, that's exactly what i've been doing. i haven't been loosely holding on, slightly leaning on Jesus. i have been grasping for dear life because while there are so many amazing things going on in my life, there is plenty that i can't handle with my own strength.

i also find it completely amazing to look at how simple it is for us to experience everlasting life. all we need to do is believe in Jesus Christ death and resurrection. we don't have a check list of things we need to accomplish in this life. we don't have to be perfect people. God wants us just the way we are, no matter how broken or messed up we may be. He knew before the world was even created that we could never be the people he needs us to be on our own. we needed Jesus' sacrifice in order to even enter into God's presence. i know that God loved his Son...he didn't want to see Jesus suffer. but he doesn't want to be separated from his sons and daughters either.

i feel so unworthy of this kind of love, but if my God wanted to show his love in this way, then all i can do is accept this amazing gift of grace and mercy and live a life that shows this amazing love to everyone i meet.