John 3:16: God So Loved The World

A couple of years ago, I visited a church that went door-knocking on Saturday mornings. After doing it for a month, every other way of sharing the gospel felt easier by comparison. Still, the question lingered: How do we engage complete strangers without it feeling awkward?

I remember reading somewhere that not everyone has heard the Good News. I thought that might be true somewhere, but certainly not in the Texas Hill Country. Here, I assumed God’s Word was as familiar as the San Antonio Riverwalk or the Alamo.

That assumption made me curious.

What could I ask people about the Bible that would be such a softball question that everyone would know the answer?

Then it came to me: John 3:16.

Yes, I thought—that’s it. John 3:16 is the San Antonio Riverwalk of Scripture. Surely everyone around here would recognize it.

So I ordered a sweatshirt with John 3:16 printed across the chest, put on my unofficial “Christian researcher” hat, and started asking random baristas, waiters, store clerks, and people on the street if they’d ever heard of John 3:16.

The responses surprised me.

One waiter said, “Who hasn’t heard that propaganda?”
Another smiled and said, “That’s my favorite verse in the Bible…‘God so loved the world…’”

But the most surprising response was that about ten percent of the people I asked had either never heard of John 3:16—or said it sounded familiar but couldn’t place where it came from.

That stopped me.

After that little experiment, I ordered shirts with Isaiah 55:6, Joshua 1:9, and others. I became, in a sense, a walking billboard.

Even if I didn’t speak to everyone, they couldn’t not see the reminder.

Carl Jung famously had the words “Called or not called, God will be present” written above his doorway. I’ve always liked that.

What I’ve learned is that very little is required for God to work through us.

An open Bible and journal.
A visible cross.
A Christian-themed shirt or cap.

That’s about it for presentation.

But with or without any of those attachments, what matters most is simply shining the light of Christ in our interactions with others.

His light shines in the darkness—and people are drawn to it as He calls.

“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.” John 3:16 (NKJV)