This Is Real Love
I wish you a Merry Christmas! Thanks be to God for his inexpressibly wonderful gift!
Reading: 1 John 1-5
7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God—for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:7-10 NLT)
Today, all around the world, we celebrate God’s greatest gift, the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ.
• The gift promised – to Adam, to Abraham, to Israel, to Mary of Nazareth.
• The gift given into the world at the birth of Mary’s child Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem.
• The gift unwrapped for all to see as Jesus walked and talked and taught and healed and loved and laughed and wept and served.
• The gift presented as Jesus suffered and bled and forgave and died and was buried and rose again and sent his Holy Spirit into the world.
• The gift received in your heart and mine with wonder, humility, gratitude, and love for God and for each other and for all mankind.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us. (1 John 4:11-12 NLT)
God’s greatest gift was a demonstration of real love. May we also show real love at this Christmas season, and all through the year, by giving that which is most precious to us and most needed by others.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the gift that most fully expresses real love, the gift of life through Jesus Christ. My life is blessed beyond measure, my heart is full of gratitude, and I am in awe of your real love. Alleluia! Help me to love others with real love, the love that gives that which is most precious to me and most needed by others. Amen.