John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
This story is told of a young man in an upper Northern city who had lost his parents in a car accident and was left to fend for himself. The young man would go out every day and try to sell newspapers to help get food to eat. One particular cold day, with several feet of snow on the ground, he was out as usual, trying to sell his newspapers. Because of the cold weather, he wasn’t selling many papers. He walked up to a policeman and asked, “Mister, you don’t know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight, do you? I sleep in a box around the corner and down the alley, and it’s awful cold in there at night. It sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay.”
The policeman looked down at the boy and told him, “Go down the street to the big white house and knock on the door. When they open the door, just tell them ‘John 3:16’ and they will let you in.”
This seemed very strange and weird to the young boy, but nevertheless, there was something in the policeman’s eyes that he felt he could trust, so he promised him that he would do it, and then off he went. He walked down the street until he came to the big white house. Hesitantly he walked up to the door and got up enough nerve to ring the doorbell. After a very brief moment, sure enough, this very nice elderly lady came to the door and said, “Yes, may I help you?” The young man just followed the instructions he had been given and very softly and gingerly said, “John 3:16.”
Immediately the woman’s expression changed. She said to the him, “Oh, my goodness, come on in, come on in; it is so cold outside. Come over and warm yourself by the nice fireplace, and I’ll be right back.”
He was mesmerized by what had just happened. He very quickly went over to the blazing fireplace that felt so incredibly great. He couldn’t remember the last time he was that warm and unthawed. He thought to himself, “John 3:16 . . . I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a boy feel warm.” In just a few short minutes, it seemed, the lady came back and took him into this lovely dining room where a gigantic bowl of hot chicken soup was waiting, along with some hot, fresh bread. The lady said, “Eat as much as you like; there is plenty more where that came from.” The boy ate and ate, until he couldn’t eat another bite.
Again he thought, “John 3:16 . . . I still don’t understand, but it surely makes a hungry boy feel full.” The night was pressing in, and the lady took him upstairs to a huge bathtub filled with warm water. As he soaked in that warm, sudsy water, he thought, “John 3:16 . . . even though I don’t understand it, it sure makes a dirty boy feel clean.” When he had finished and had nightclothes on, the lady came and got him. She took him into a bedroom and tucked him into a big feather bed, pulling the covers up to his neck and kissing him goodnight.
As he lay there in the darkness, falling off to sleep, he thought, “John 3:16 . . . I don’t understand it yet, but it sure makes a tired boy feel rested.” The next morning when he awakened, the lady came and took him back to the dining table filled with food.
After he had eaten, she sat down next to him, with a Bible in her hand, and asked him, “Do you understand John 3:16?” “No, ma’am,” he answered. “The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to say ‘John 3:16.’”
She opened the Bible to John 3:16 and explained to him about Jesus. Right there he gave his life to Jesus, thinking, “John 3:16 . . . I don’t understand it completely, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.”
Don’t be deceived, misconceived, or swayed; the anointing is still about John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”.
