Whoever believes

“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.” John 3:16
There’s a reason that John 3:16 is perhaps the best known verse in the Bible – it’s a wonderful promise to everyone. We could spend several weeks exploring the many different facets of this verse – and some people do – but for today there’s one aspect in particular that I want to pick up on.
That aspect is ‘whoever believes’. The invitation is open to all. Anyone, from anywhere and any walk of life, can believe and come to salvation through Jesus Christ. God doesn’t restrict salvation to people of a certain race or culture, or to people born into Christian families, or to what the world would call ‘good’ people. In God’s sight, we are all the same – sinners, in need of a Saviour. Yet although the provision and the invitation is there for all, we also have a responsibility to respond. There might be enough lifeboats on a ship to hold all the passengers, but if they refuse to get in the lifeboat when the ship sinks, they won’t survive. Why someone would refuse to get in a lifeboat in that situation, I don’t know; yet many people do this spiritually. The difference between perishing and having eternal life, is to accept the invitation that God offers. Yet He will never violate our free will. If salvation were dependent only on God’s will, then everyone would be saved, because “[God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). The fact that not all are saved, shows that we have a part to play. You have received an invitation to eternal life. Have you accepted it?