In a previous post, I provided a list of forty quotes for forty years of my life. In the next few posts, I plan to explain why certain ones have been meaningful to me.

When I was little, I heard a story about a homeless boy who, on a wintry evening, asked a police officer where he could find a warm place to sleep. The officer told him where to a certain home for boys several blocks down the street. “When you knock on the door,” he said, “just say ‘John 3:16,’ and they will let you in.”

The shivering lad followed these instructions, and soon found himself inside a warm house, enjoying a satisfying dinner, resting in a clean, soft bed, and cared for by kind people. Over and over he kept saying to himself, “I don’t know what John 3:16 means, but it sure does make a hungry boy full, and a cold boy warm, and a tired boy rested.”

I recall that story as one of my earliest memories about the beauty and importance of John 3:16, which Martin Luther has called “the gospel in a nutshell.”

Some parts of the Bible are popular only because they have been ripped out of context and thus misunderstood. Philippians 4:13, for example, (“I can do all things”) is a common victim of this hermeneutical assault.

John 3:16, on the other hand, stands alone as an elegant summary of the gospel.

It begins with God, and declares his love for the world: “For God so loved the world.”

It states the nature of God’s loving intervention: “that he gave.”

It identifies the Savior: “his only Son.”

It extends a universal offer of salvation: “that whoever”

It explains what a person must do to be saved: “believes in him.”

It warns us of our peril apart from God’s intervention: “should not perish.”

It promises what every human being longs for: “but have eternal life.”

In 2009, after Tim Tebow wrote “John 3:16” on his eye black for a football game, it became the most Googled phrase for a full 24-hours. For many who loved John 3:16, that phenomenon was both encouraging and concerning: encouraging because they were glad that people were discovering the truth of this verse; concerning because so many didn’t know what that verse reference meant.

I hope that more people would not only know what John 3:16 means, but believe what it promises. I want everyone to hear and accept the invitation to believe in Jesus the Son of God.

I chose John 3:16 as the first quote of forty quotes to feature because it is probably the first verse I memorized, and well might be the last I remember. Unlike many other quotes in my list—such as profound insights into human nature or rules for being productive—this quote is one that I stake my eternal destiny on.

I am that once-homeless boy who found a home in John 3:16.