“For God so loved the world . . .”
“For God so loved the world.” These six words from the Gospel of John (3:16) have been guiding and reshaping my prayers. This verse is so familiar to me that it can be easy to pass over those words without pausing to fully grasp their depth. Here they are in context: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This Son was Christ Jesus. Jesus was able to see the spiritual truth about others, no matter the situation. And because he saw God expressed in them, he was able to so easily and naturally see and express love toward them.
The more I have pondered this Bible verse, the more I have felt the call to a higher, Christly way of seeing. In a time when division feels amplified, the prevailing narrative suggests that for one to rise, someone else must fall. We are often subtly trained to measure ourselves against others and to fearfully protect what we believe is ours, whether that be status, promotion, or inheritance.
Yet this Bible promise highlighting the precious gift of Christ does not single out a particular group that is more worthy of redemption and love than another. It says that God so loved “the world.” If, as Christian Science teaches, God is divine Mind and also divine Love, then God does not create a fractured reality where hatred and rivalry rule.
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