John 3:31-36

John 3:31-36
English Standard Version (ESV)

  The essence of sports is athletic ability -- you can't succeed without that.  The essence of summer is sunshine -- that's what brings so many summer activities to life, and if it rains throughout the entire summer, it doesn't go quite like planned.  The essence of something is what that thing is at the core, what centrally defines it.  Some might say the essence of the Cincinnati Bengals is disappointment...
  The essence of God is love -- this defines God.  The relationship that exists between the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God is based on love.  It is this love out of which creation flows, and it is this love out of which the desire to include humanity in that eternal relationship comes.  God invites us into something magnificent, and to come before God we must have everything that is not love removed from us. 
  For this reason, Christ died for us.  We are unable to cleanse sin from ourselves, so God does it for us.  As it is impossible for us to stand in the throne room of God with sin covering us, we must have the covering of Christ in order to join the eternal dance.  God gives this to us freely, but we cannot join without it.