One of the first Bible verses that many of us learned as a child was John 3:16. The verse says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

When we think about this verse many times we concentrate on the “God so loved” part. As we celebrate Easter, I want us to focus on the “He gave” part. That is what Easter is all about. Jesus gave his life for us.

The Greek word for gave used here is didome, and it has several definitions. I want to share just a few that best relates to this scripture.

“of one’s own accord to give someone something.”

“to supply, furnish, necessary things.”

“to give what is due or obligatory, to pay wages.”

“give forth from one’s self.”

“to give to someone as his own”

Now think about these definitions as it relates to God giving us his son. He gave us Jesus from himself, of his own accord to furnish what was necessary to pay the wages for our sin so that we could accept him as our own Savior.

Jesus laid down his life so that we could have life. Without the gift of Jesus, we would have no hope. We would perish in our sin. This Easter let’s realize afresh the price he paid and the gift he gave and accept that gift with the gratitude of living our lives for him.