Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader - Plough

G o d s o l o V E d T H E W o r l d“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so thateveryone who believes in him may not perish but may haveeternal life.“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world tocondemn the world, but in order that the world might be savedthrough him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; butthose who do not believe are condemned already, because theyhave not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And thisis the judgment, that the light has come into the world, andpeople loved darkness rather than light because their deeds wereevil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to thelight, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who dowhat is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen thattheir deeds have been done in God.” (John. 3:16-21)actually, it is impossible to preach on this text; one canonly repeat it. It is already as complete as possible a sermonupon what God is in the world, what he was, and what hewill be in the world forever.We human beings usually see only our own neighborhood,the area in which we live; and what we see there is darkness.Thus the perspectives of God are lost, and everything seemsbeyond help. It looks as though all is lost. And then a greatsadness comes over people; they see only themselves. Thesadness becomes indifference, the indifference turns to insolence,and out of insolence grows thoughtlessness. And thus15