And now for the rWorld
Jesus famously said that his followers may live in the world, but that they are “not of the world” (John 17:15). Similarly, we may live in the ‘iWorld’, but we don’t have to belong to it. The ‘iWorld’, according to author Dale Kuehne, is marked by “a spirit of unfettered and individualism and freedom” – which gives us the “i” of iWorld. But he doesn’t want to leave us there. He has something better to offer us, because God has made us for something better: the rWorld.
“Whereas the iWorld is a place in which freedom of the individual reigns, the rWorld is based on the belief that humans are made for relationship … The Bible is effectively an rWorld textbook. It tells us the story of a relational God who has made men and women in his image for the purpose of relating … It is about the creation of relationship, the destruction of relationship, and the redemption of relationship … We were created to relate to God and one another, and our personal fulfilment and happiness depend on the health of those two fundamental relationships. Christianity is not about deciding who we want to be and what makes us happy; it is about learning who we are and how to find not just happiness but fulfilment, in relating to God and one another.”
Or, as Jesus put it, the two most important things in life are to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbours (Mark 12:29-31).