The Tuesday within the Octave of the Feast of Pentecost
Posted on May 26, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. John 3:16-21 (NKJV)
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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Devotion
The words of verse 16 are the Gospel in ‘miniature’. God does not love a worthy world—He loves a perishing, rebellious one. In love He gives His only Son into death on the cross, not to condemn, but to save. The Father’s verdict upon sinners is reversed in the Son’s atoning sacrifice. Whoever believes in Him—trusts in Him alone—possesses eternal life.
Yet the text does not stop with comfort. “…but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Unbelief is not neutral; it is rejection of the only remedy. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. The natural heart flees the light that exposes sin.
But the light has come. Jesus is the Light of the world. Those who do what is true come to the light, not to boast in their works, but so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been carried out by God’s power. This means faith alone receives the gift, yet true faith is never alone—it comes by God’s grace, works in His love, and lives in the light of Christ.
Collect: O God, Who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of Thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
