Reflecting on John 3:16-18“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17)
These words remind me of God’s stance towards the world.
God hates the evil that ruins the world, but God does not hate the world.
The warnings about the world in the Bible are about the evil in the world.
We should hate the evil that ruins and harms God’s family and God’s kingdom.
But every person is precious to God, as is every place in creation.
God’s deep love leads to God coming to seek and to save it all.
We need to distinguish between the world, and the evil in the world.
In my experience many Christians have blurred that distinction.
They speak of the world as evil, and constantly condemn the world.
They live as if God’s goal for us is heaven, not life in this world.
They disregard the environment and creation care.
They separate between some people that God loves, and others God doesn’t.
They present God as condemning and judging, and not loving and eager to save.
The irony is, this condemning spirit is evil, something God hates!
God loves the world and shows it by His actions… we should do the same!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, it seems that we have become the very thing that God is not, a people that condemn the world. Help us to see every person and place in the world as precious to You, and precious to us. Help us to show this by our actions!
Our world/my world belongs to God. He reigns. we can see this by the rebirth of the creation each spring – new growth, birds their songs raise, warmer weather, the yearly cycle on this earth. Yet sin remains and at times breaks the world apart. This is man’s doings. I need to be an instrument of his peace bringing shalom to all around me. May others see that I am practicing the way ofmy Rabbi – Jesus. May my daily actions show that I am his and He is mine and His banner over me is love.