Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:18–19, ESV)
Imagine playing golf along Ireland’s rugged coastline. You have never played this course before. The caddie master is shorthanded, so he decides to guide you for the next four-hour adventure.
You stand on the tee of a demanding par four, licking your chops as you look out over a wide, inviting fairway. But your weathered caddie warns you that the right-side slopes sharply toward a hidden ravine. “Whatever you do, don’t miss right,” he says.
You nod in agreement but choose to ignore his counsel. You aim down the right side, hoping to cut the corner.
You hit the ball “in the screws” and watch it sail beautifully through the air before disappearing over the edge. Frustrated, you turn to the caddie and ask, “Why didn’t you warn me?” He responds, “I did. You ignored my advice.”
If golfers understand one thing, it is the importance of warnings. We encounter them constantly: red penalty stakes, white out-of-bounds markers, and advice from sunbaked caddies.
Similarly, heavenly warnings are not restrictions on our freedom—they express the Father’s love. That brings us to one of Christianity’s most puzzling questions: How could a loving God send someone to hell?
It is a serious question, especially when we think about family and friends. The fundamental problem underlying our dismay is often our flawed understanding of God.
We frequently assume that if God is loving, He must overlook our sins. But Scripture reveals a God who is also perfectly holy and just.
Consider a judge who repeatedly releases guilty criminals simply because he feels compassion for them. We would not call him loving—we would call him unjust.
Why, then, do we expect justice from human judges, but recoil when Scripture tells us that God will judge the world in righteousness?
We often imagine humanity as a group of innocent people desperately searching for a hidden God. But Scripture teaches a different picture: God has revealed Himself through creation, conscience, and the clarion call of preachers.
Rather than honoring God, we suppress the truth and live as though we are accountable to no one. Our deepest problem is not merely making mistakes—it is that we have rebelled against the God who created us. Since God is perfectly just, He cannot simply pretend that sin does not matter.
This is what makes Christianity so extraordinary: the God who warns us about judgment is the very God who has acted to rescue us from it.
The apostle Paul explains that God presented Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for our sins so that He might be both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).
Pause and ponder this truth: God does not abandon justice to show us love. At the cross, Jesus willingly bore the judgment our sins deserved so that guilty people could be reconciled to God.
Calvary’s cross reveals two amazing truths: our sin is far more serious than we imagine, and God’s love is far greater than we deserve.
The wise old caddie’s warning was intended to protect you from danger. Ignoring it did not make the danger disappear.
Of course, God’s judgment is infinitely more serious than a lost golf ball, and God’s mercy is infinitely greater than a caddie’s advice. But the principle stands—warnings express unimaginable love.
The wonder of Christianity is not simply that God warns sinners about judgment. It is that He has provided the Savior who delivers us from it.
The pressing question is not merely, “How could a loving God judge a sinner?” The deeper question is, “How could a holy and just God love rebellious sinners so much that He would give His own Son to save them?”
Deeper still, what will you do with His extraordinary offer of mercy?
Prayer: Spirit of God, open our eyes to who You are!