THE LOVE OF GOD.

I was listening to a teaching by Pastor Emmanuel Iren a few days ago, and he explained a concept that I couldn't get over. It was what I later found out is called the moral dilemma, or the trolley problem.

Now, I want to ask you the two questions. Take a moment and really think about them.

Here are the scenarios:

1. You’re controlling a runaway train. It’s heading towards five people who will die if you do nothing. You can pull a lever to divert the train onto another track, where one person will die.

Question: Do you pull the lever?

2. Now imagine that the one person on the other track is your own child. The five people are strangers.

Question: Would you still pull the lever?

I'm pretty sure that when you read the first question, your answer was almost immediate. Save the lives of five people at the expense of one. It's the lesser evil, abi?

But then you read the second question and suddenly, you're like, "Nah. To hell with the multitude. I'm saving my child."

And honestly, it's understandable. It's your child. There is a level of relationship there that changes everything. The moment that one person becomes someone you love, the equation doesn't feel so simple anymore.

But do you realise that this is part of what makes John 3:16 so profound? "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..."

We quote it, we sing about it, we celebrate it, we hear it so often that sometimes, I think we forget to actually feel the weight of it.

God gave His only Son for our sake, think about that, it wasn't some abstract sacrifice, it wasn't giving up something that meant nothing to Him, it was His Son.

And somehow, He looked at us, a world full of people who had fallen short, and chose to make salvation available to us at the cost of His own Son.

I don't know if you've ever really thought about what that must have cost God, because between you and I, if it were us, would we dare?

Would you willingly sacrifice your own child so that strangers could live? Yet this is the kind of love God demonstrated towards us. That's a whole different level of compassion, a whole different level of love, a whole different level of "I choose you."

And if you've ever been loved and valued in a certain way, then the natural response is not to take that love lightly. It is to give back, as much as you can, in the ways you can.

So, dearest reader, perhaps the question isn't whether God loves you, John 3:16 already settled that.

The question is:

What have you given up or willing to give up for the One who gave His Son for you?

@favvy_Okwans🖤.