Love
Advent Week 3
In an impossibly lavish, seemingly rash, almost desperate act of love, God made himself incredibly vulnerable… becoming a baby in a poor family, searching for shelter, exposed to a barn and a violently jealous king. God poured out his love by coming near, moving into our world, immersing himself in our mess, all to walk through it with us.
Love looks like that. Love is exposing and risking ourselves, our safety, our possessions, positions for the sake of someone else… Someone else who may not deserve it, may not want it, may not even be aware of it, and may ultimately refuse to acknowledge it, let alone value it.
The fragile baby grew up and willingly entrusted himself into our hands for the sake of rescuing us from ourselves. He told us that our choice to love would define us. We would be known by our love, if we could learn to love in this self-sacrificial, vulnerable, humble way.
This moment. This season. This lifetime… we choose to love.
You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
-1 Peter 1:22-23
Prayer:
Father God, we have witnessed what Love does, and we know its power.
But we are weak.
We are petty.
We are selfish.
We are angry and reactionary.
We are stingy and controlling.
Lord, overwhelm us again with your love. Heal us of our deepest wounds and create in us a new heart. May your love flood our lives,
drown our flesh,
overflow our hearts,
and spill out into selfless, reckless, lavish lives of self-giving for everyone around us.
