Daily Manna · Day 7 · January 7
The Measure
“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.”
Torchlight on a wall, and a man standing just outside its edge.
The most quoted sentence in the Bible was spoken at night, to one nervous member of the ruling council, and he did not ask for it. Nicodemus opened with a compliment. Jesus went straight past it to birth, and wind, and a bronze serpent lifted on a pole in a desert, and then said: God so loved the world. So is a measuring word. Loved to this degree, and the unit of measure is a Son. He keeps the alternative inside the same sentence, should not perish, because perishing is the assumed default; two verses later, he that believeth not is condemned already. The door stands wide open. It does not open by itself.
Nicodemus is worth following. He appears twice more: arguing for due process when the council wants a summary verdict (7:50), then carrying a hundred pounds of spices to a tomb in daylight, in front of everyone (19:39). It took years.
Now think of the person you have quietly filed as too far gone. Whosoever covers them, and the arithmetic took a long time in Nicodemus too. Do something ordinary for that person this week: a ride, a meal, a message with no argument anywhere in it.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 7 is Things Above (Colossians 3:2).