Day 16

 God so loved the world 

There is a danger that we will fall into another kind of narrowness.  We think, perhaps, that Christ is our God, but somehow that He is not the God of those outside us.  We forget the majestic sweep and grandeur of Christianity and its enormous claims.  We settle down in a comfortable little world while the great Gospel passes us by.  Listen to Bishop Nygren; “We who have been commissioned to preach the Gospel concerning Christ may never forget that this Gospel addresses itself not merely to a certain group of men, but to the world, the world in its entirety.  God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.  It is the world, all that is called man, that through sin has come under the power of destruction.  So also it is the world which is the subject of Christ’s salvation.  Note how the purpose of sending Christ is stated in the verse which follows immediately, in order that the world through Him might be saved.

For the sake of our own small hearts let us never lose sight of the worldwide, world-encompassing character of the Gospel.  Our Saviour is the Saviour of the world.  Therefore the Gospel concerning Him belongs to the world.  He who is our Lord is also the world’s Lord.  Do not try to possess Christ in your little parish: let Him possess you and take your life and lift it in His cause.  Let Him possess you and He will show you the wide world and enlarge your small heart…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, says its rightful Lord.

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