The Love of Christmas - Dec. 24th
The Love of Christmas - Dec. 24th
Pastor Jim Quigley
My wife unashamedly loves Hallmark Christmas movies. The small town setting makes her feel cozy. The boy meets girl romance that unfolds gives her the warm and fuzzies. Add in the magic of Christmas with twinkling lights, hot cocoa, and Christmas cheer—it's a love story that warms her heart.
Whether you share in my wife's enthusiasm for these Christmas chick flicks or not, we can all appreciate a good love story. And the story of Christmas is the best. It’s a story filled with love and wonder, suffering and sacrifice, and of course a happy ending. The most wonderfully amazing happy ending you can imagine.
The Christmas story begins with God sending His Son to be born of the virgin Mary in the little town of Bethlehem. Right away, we are struck with the question: Why would God send His only Son to leave His heavenly, cosmic throne to come down to this fallen, sinful world? John 3:16 gives us the answer to that question: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son…” It was love that compelled God the Father to send His Son. He did not do it begrudgingly. He did not do it against His will as if someone forced Him into it. Nor did He do it indifferently. Rather, it was love for His people that He sent Jesus to be born and to be with us.
On that first Christmas, God revealed His love for His people by sending the Son to be born as a helpless child. But that child was the Messiah, Christ the Lord. And He was sent to rescue and redeem God’s people from their sin (Galatians 4:4-5). The cradle points to the cross where God’s love was demonstrated again, but in an even greater fashion.
Shortly before His betrayal and arrest, Jesus said to His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Or Paul writes in Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (see also Ephesians 2:4-5; 1 John 4:9-10). The love of God for His people was revealed on that first Christmas morning. And the pinnacle of His love was demonstrated when Jesus went to the cross to die in the place of His people.
But the love of God for His people does not end at the cross. Rather, those who have been saved and redeemed by Christ are adopted into God’s family and considered His beloved children (John 1:12; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5). For those who trust in Jesus and have received Him as their Lord and Savior, God promises that nothing in all of creation will be able to separate them from His great love (Romans 8:37-39).
The pinnacle of God’s love was seen on the cross where Jesus sacrificially died in the place of all true believers. And that love continues to manifest itself in the life of all genuine followers of Christ. But none of these latter demonstrations of love would be possible had God not first revealed His love by sending the Son to be born in that little town of Bethlehem.
And so, this Christmas remember the love of God that came down from the throne room of heaven to be with us. And let God’s great love which He lavishes upon you propel you to love God more intimately and love others more sacrificially.
Reflection:
- Read Romans 5:6-8; 8:37-39; Ephesians 2:1-10; and 1 John 4:9-10. Reflect on the concept of the love of God in those passages.
- How does knowing that God’s love will never depart from you affect how you treat and love others?
- Share this devotional with one believer and one nonbeliever and talk with them individually about it.