Love
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
For he has been mindful of the humble
state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call
me blessed,
For the Mighty One has done great
things for me – holy is his name. -- Luke 1:46-49
Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. Love. That’s the
candle we light today. It’s all about how much God loves us. How much God
sacrificed for us.
Do we ever really think about that? In our busyness,
in our rush to buy gifts and cook delicious food, and gather together, do we
ever consider how much God loves us? Do we ever think about what that means in
our lives?
What does love mean to you? We tend to put it into
categories. There’s romantic love. There’s parental love. There’s friendly love
and family love and, well, there’s all kinds of love. But the love God gives to
us is so much more than that. The love He has for us is sacrificial love. He
gave Jesus to die for us. How many of us would do the same for Him? Not many.
How do I know that? Each day we are called to die to ourselves so that we might
live for Him. How many of us really do that?
We have such a hard time with love. It hurts, even
when it’s good. There’s betrayal and disappointment. There are expectations
that can never be met by anyone but God. There’s death that comes too soon and
children who are longed for but never come.
We also reject love as too confining, too controlling,
too much about someone else. We push people away, so afraid they will consume
us that we miss the love behind their actions. We are an independent sort but
that only carries us so far.
We love others. We love our children and we call it
sacrificial but is it really? Can we ever truly compare what we are willing to
do for those we love with what God has done for us? How much would we give, who
would we sacrifice, for the wayward children we love to come to accept His
priceless gift?
Do we ever really see God for all that He is? Do we
truly understand His magnificence? Can we even comprehend that the Creator of
the universe chose us? Can we ever grasp how much He loves us?
Think about that today. Take a few minutes to bask in
the glory of His love. Let His peace fill you up. Refocus on the child in the
manger who came to set us free from the death our sins require.
This season is about so many things but, mostly, it’s
about His love for us. Don’t ever lose sight of that.
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