How Great is the Love the Father has Lavished on Us

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The second candle for the second week of Advent is the love candle. The word love is seriously over-used in the United States. We love pizza, we love our favorite movie, we love Christmas.

Love is intrinsically tied into Christmas celebrations. We presume Mary loved Jesus. We love people in our lives and want to buy them presents to show them love at Christmastime. We love Jesus. God loves us. There's a lot of lovin' going on, but do we actually comprehend the meaning of love? 

Love isn't only warm feelings and presents and caring and close relationships with others. True love, God love, is sacrificial. Sacrificial love isn't warm and fuzzy.  

Jesus loved us enough to leave heaven.

I wouldn't do that. 

Would you leave heaven and come live on earth?

God loved us enough to give up His Son to a horrible death. For people who don't deserve that kind of sacrifice, that kind of love.

Jesus was born to die. For us. Because that is true love. 

God, Grace and the Gift

On this day before Easter, I think about three things, God, grace and the gift.

Without God there would be nothingness.  End of story.  I wouldn't be here writing this, you wouldn't be there reading this.  If you don't believe in a universe created by God, you will, of course, disagree.  And you know what? That's your privilege.  But I've lived too long and seen too much to ever think that all of this - life, the universe, people, intelligent thought - is just happenstance, randomness.

Next, grace.  I can't even begin to comprehend this concept.  Theologically it's often defined as unmerited favor, a blessing given which is undeserved.   As messed up as I am, as many mistakes as I make, as unlovable as I can be - still, grace is poured down on me.  I am loved and forgiven - every time.

And finally, the gift, represented by the cross, the iconic symbol of all Christendom.  The gift was a sacrificed son.

The early Israelites could only obtain forgiveness for their sins through animal sacrifice.  Seems barbaric, strange, incomprehensible to 21st century minds.  But we have to be purified somehow.  What right do we have to think that we could ever be good enough to deserve to be in the presence of an Almighty God?

And so, the gift of a son sacrificed.



Day 7 of the Blogging A to Z Challenge, the letter G.
 

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