For God so Loved the _______ .
By Keith Gebben
5/16/26World. What does that passage reference? Certainly God’s love. But what is the world? And maybe what limitations should we put on this?
I grew up in a privileged Christian community where we were pretty sure that God loved us. And probably were pretty proud of being part of His chosen elite “saved” people. And then there was even a twist of preferential “denominational” status to be considered. The historical, theological minds at the heart of our tradition had everything figured out better than the church down the street or across the county.
But God loves the “world”. Jesus did ministry in the “world” of His day. This included the descendants of Abraham, the Jews. But He also engaged with other cultural tenants, and He even healed the child of a heathen Roman official.
Within the first generation of the church, Peter is taking it to the streets. Streets of the heathen cultures. Paul ends up discussing and evangelizing persons of every imaginable pagan religion, since God loves the “world”.
Satan is referred to as the “prince of this world” in scripture.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:16)
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
These are just a couple of examples of how the concept of “world” is used in the Bible.
God so loved the “world”.
What about today? What about the “world” that is following other beliefs? Does He have a love for pagans, atheists, Buddhists, Muslims, you name them...
How did you get to be a follower of Christ? How did you find yourself experiencing forgiveness, hope, healing, and a new purpose in life? Was it your privileged birthright? Was it your excellent behavior and impeccable character? Was it based on attending enough weekend services in a church?
Some of these details may have had an impact or influence on your development as a believer in Christ...but without a God who was willing to dip deep enough into the world to reach my sorry person, I wouldn’t be who I am today, and Jesus wouldn’t be who He is to me today.
For God so loved the “world” has “sideswiped” me this week. Kind of forced me off the road and made me pay a different kind of attention to Him again...
For God so loved the______________.
Have a story to share?
It is always encouraging to hear what people are learning on their journey to embody the church, and to see how diverse our experiences can be as we follow Jesus.
If you have a story you’d like to share about what God is teaching you or an interaction you had, we’d like to share it to encourage our faith community.
*Stories can be shared with or without your name and sent to connect@cityvinechurch.com*