John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. (NRSV)

Some time ago, we had a garage sale at our church. Just before that event, I was rummaging through some stuff that I had packed away, and also some stuff that I was giving to the local Salvation Army. As I looked through these things, I pulled out various items that could be sold at the garage sale. They were second-hand, not in good shape, and some of the items were broken. I did not feel bad about giving these things away; after all, I did not have any use for them.

I also looked at some crystal that had been given to me a long time ago, which was on display in the wall unit. Although I don’t really like it or use it, I quickly discarded the notion of giving it away. “It is still in such good condition and too precious to give to a garage sale,” I thought to myself.

As I was packing the various items into a box for the garage sale, I thought about how hard it was for me to give away the crystal, and wondered, “What if our Heavenly Father had decided that His Son was too precious to give?”

As I pondered this, I realized that our Heavenly Father did not hold back or hesitate to give us His precious gift, His Son, to die on a cross for us as an atonement for our sins. What a generous, priceless gift to mankind!

Prayer: Father in heaven, thank you for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son, Jesus, to die for us so that we may inherit eternal life. Amen.

Rosemary Hagedorn
Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada
Rosyhagedorn@gmail.com