Andrea Muirhead
If there was a super hero called Grammar Girl, it would not be me. Grammar is one of those things I take for granted. I don’t pay much attention to it, but I work with many international people who are learning the English language and they pay close attention to grammar and all its ins and outs.
A few Sundays ago, I was listening to a speaker who read a very familiar passage, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 is spoken about fairly often, but never have I been asked to look at the grammar of this sentence, specifically the verbs.
Verbs are the action words in sentences. So what are the verbs in this scripture? “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Love. Gave. Believe. Shall not perish. Have.
God’s action words are “love” and “gave”. God loves and gives to those who listen. And those who listen, their action words (my action words) are “believe”, “shall not perish” and “have”. If I believe, I will not perish, (it’s a promise) but I will have eternal life! It’s mind blowing, yet so simple.
God is my ultimate super hero. His way of interacting with His people is to love them and give to them! God is active, He is loving, He is so generous. He sacrificed his Son, out of unconditional love, so that all people can have eternal life.
So maybe after all, I can be Grammar Girl! We can all be Grammar Girls. Not the Grammar police, but the girls who puts God’s verbs into action, loving and giving to all people so that they too can have eternal life with Him!