In “Advent 2020: Love,” Charity shares what she is learning about advent—a word meaning arrival. This week she shares about love. If you missed the previous weeks, you can also read about hope, peace and joy
He Has Come.
It is Christmas day.
The day we celebrate our Savior’s birth.
The day Love became flesh.
As I write this post, I am listening to the song “Emmanuel” by Hannah Kerr. It seems so fitting for this Covid Christmas.
He was not the one we thought would come
We were looking for a King
But He didn’t come in glory
The Author of the oceans and the sun
Still He chose to be
Written in our story
So He could fill our flesh and blood
And we could know His love
Emmanuel, a manger for a bed
No crown upon His head
He came like us instead
Emmanuel, He meets you where you are
He holds your heavy heart
Our God is with us all
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
It was no mistake that He arrived
Lost without a home
Helpless as a baby
So if we’re feeling lost in our own lives
We are not alone
He has felt the same thing
Because He lived in flesh and blood
We can know His love
This song beautifully paints a picture of what Love did for us. Agape love, the kind of love Scripture says God has toward us, is all encompassing. It is a feeling and an action. It is feeling so deeply connected and devoted to someone that nothing can stop the action which follows.
I think people get scared when “feelings” are mentioned. I know I do. Our society says that feelings make you weak. Even the church has a largely negative view of feelings. But what I am discovering is that we have it backwards.
Feelings are not bad. God created them. He feels them. Just look at Jesus’ life. God feels more deeply than we can imagine. The problem is not feeling; it is what sin has done to them. The moment sin entered the world a slew of feelings we were never meant to experience entered our world. Now, we must discern what feelings are from God and which are because of sin. To do so, we must stay connected to the Spirit through Scripture, prayer, silence, being still and just spending time with Him alone, practicing listening for His voice.
The second part of agape love is action. As I mentioned earlier, this action is driven by a deep feeling of commitment and devotion—not just a warm affection. Obviously, God is the only one whose agape love is perfect. God’s love for us comes from shalom—complete wholeness. He is perfect in every way. He finds perfect unity and love in the Trinity, so He is the only one who can show perfect love to us.
And love creates.
Quite literally.
Think of a husband and wife. From a husband and wife’s love—their commitment and devotion—for one another, they “make love”—an action. And out of that love, a child is created. It begins with the emotion but leads to the action.
It is similar with God. God’s love in the Trinity created us. God wanted to share the intimate love He experiences, so He created us in His own image. We were to love as He loves and to continue creating. Imagine such a beautiful chain of love!
But you know how the story turns out…
God made us so we could experience agape love, but we rejected it.
That could have been the end of the story…
But it wasn’t!
Jesus is Emmanuel—God with us. He is Love in the flesh. He came to restore us to Love. Jesus is God’s agape action. He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit saying, “We aren’t giving up on our creation, our children.”
Jesus is the action of God’s agape love.
Love has come.
Love is here.
Jesus’ birth marks a new way of life for us. It isn’t an easy one. In fact, it is quite difficult. It is one of learning to live in Love, walk with Love, and pursue Love. It takes work and devotion.
But Jesus has come to show us that every hurt, death, injustice or disease we face cannot compare to the love of our God for us. He will right every wrong and lift every burden.
Jesus has come to give us intimacy with our Father again. And we don’t have to wait until heaven, friends. He offers it now if we are willing to do whatever it takes to keep in step with His Spirit.
I don’t know what this Christmas looks like for you. Perhaps it is a joyful time of reliving traditions or making new ones. Maybe you have lost a loved one and this is the first Christmas without them. Whatever you are facing, my prayer is that you will feel Love’s embrace.
Remember Jesus is the free gift offered to all who will receive Him.
Remember He is the evidence of just how far God is willing to go in order for us to be with Him.
Jesus is the result of God’s agape love. If you are doubting how God feels about you this Christmas look to Jesus—He is the answer.
My prayer for us this Christmas is that we will take time to truly be still long enough to reflect on God’s agape love. I pray we might understand more deeply the intimate and pursuant love of God. I pray we make celebrating Jesus the focus of our day. I pray we fall deeper in love with Him as we seek Him who is our hope, peace, joy and love.
Merry Christmas.
Thank you for allowing us to serve and encourage you today. If “Advent 2020: Love” was encouraging or insightful for you in any way, please let us know and consider sharing “Advent 2020: Love” with someone else.
You can listen to the music video of Hannah Kerr’s “Emmanuel” here.
Author:
Hello! I’m the C to KC & Co! My name is Charity, and I am so excited you are checking out our site and blog. My deepest desire is that God will use the words on this blog to encourage, strengthen and deepen your love for Jesus. Read more of my writing here.
Featured Photo by Dhivakaran S from Pexels