The Hardest Thing God Ever Had to Do
Jn 3:1-21
Illustration
by King Duncan

Al Lingren, a professor at Garrett Evangelical Seminary, tells about taking his junior-high-school son fishing years ago. It was one of those days when the fish wouldn't bite, so the two of them had a lot of time to talk. Out of the blue his junior-high son asked, "Dad, what is the toughest thing God ever tried to do?" 

Al said that the question caught him, a minister, off guard. He didn't know what to say, and so like a good teacher answered a question with a question."What do you think it was son?" he asked.

His son responded, "Even though you're a minister you don't know much about God, do you, Dad?" The boy then proceeded to answer his own question."Since taking science in school, I thought the creation of the world might be the hardest thing God ever tried to do," he said. "In Sunday School we got to talking about some of the miracles, like Jesus' resurrection, and I thought that might be the toughest thing God ever did. Then after thinking some more and talking to others, I decided that no one knows God really well. So now I think that the toughest thing God ever tried to do is to get us to understand who he is and that he loves us."

The father could simply say to his boy, "Son. I think you're right. Thatis the hardest thing that God ever had to do and there was only one way he could do it."

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