Advent 2024 - Love

Devotion for the week...

It's the final week of Advent 😊 So far this Advent season, we've looked at the hope, peace, and joy that Jesus brings to us. Today we look at love. It's fitting that Advent ends with a focus on love, because it was love that motivated Jesus to come rescue us. 

Sometimes we quote John 3:16, saying "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life," while only focusing on the fact that God loved the world. That's a big, kind of generic concept and it's possible to believe God loved the world while also feeling 'he couldn't possibly love me.' It's easier to accept that God loves the world in general than it is to accept that He loves us each individually. After all, I'm fully aware of my faults, just as you are aware of yours. We know how unlovable we can be at times.

And yet, it was because He loved them that God sent an angel to the shepherds with a special invitation to meet Jesus. They were considered the lowest sort of people, and would have been scorned by society, but God loved them and specifically invited them to meet His son. That's the kind of love (and invitation) He has for us, too.

God didn't wait for us to get ourselves cleaned up and presentable before showing how much He loved us. Romans 5:8 says, "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." He loved us even when we were stuck in our mess and He made it possible for our relationship with Him to be restored. All we have to do is accept the gift of love He sent us, and that gift is Jesus.