According to the Christian History Institute, a man named George Bennard was struggling with personal problems that were causing him a great deal of trouble and anguish. In his suffering, his mind returned again and again to Christ’s anguish on the cross. This, he thought, was the heart of the gospel! The cross he pictured was not ornate, or pretty, or gold or silver. It was “a rough, splintery thing, stained with gore.”

George Bennard was under the influence of our text for the day, John 3:16. “I saw the Christ of the Cross,” he said later, “as if I were seeing John 3:16 leave the printed page, take form and act out the meaning of redemption.” We all know John 3:16. Let’s say it together: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall no…