“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). There are many amazing words in that classic verse, but please don’t miss this one—whoever. 

Whoever includes everyone who trusts in Jesus, the A-Z list of sinners. Angry, boastful, critical, doubting, evil-doing, foulmouthed, gluttonous, homophobic, irresponsible, jaded, know-it-all, lying, mean, nasty, obscene, proud, quarrelsome, rude, self-righteous, thin-skinned, uncommitted, vicious, worrying, xenophobic, yawning, zoned-out sinners. Feel free to swap your ugliest sin into that list, because God’s grace still applies.

If some type of sinner wasn’t on God’s list, we could never sleep in heavenly peace. But since God’s love is for the world and whoever means whoever, we can sleep soundly under the warm blanket of grace. So tell the devil to pack up his accusations and take a hike. His flaming arrows, meant to pierce us with shame, can’t get past the sturdy shield of John 3:16 and its impenetrable word—whoever.

I don’t know everything you’ve done, but I do know this. God loved the entire world so much that he sent his Son, Jesus. And the world includes you, whomever you are.