The Radical Love of Advent
Beyond Romance
When we think about love, our minds often drift to greeting cards, romantic comedies, and warm feelings. We remember crushes from fourth grade, first dates, and butterflies in our stomachs. But what if our cultural understanding of love—as beautiful as it may be—barely scratches the surface of what love truly means?
The final week of Advent invites us to contemplate love not as a fleeting emotion or romantic notion, but as something far more profound and transformative. It challenges us to see love as the deliberate choice to act for another's good, the sacrificial seeking of their welfare above your own, and the faithful forsaking of all others in favor of the one loved.
This definition might feel overwhelming at first. It's certainly more demanding than what we see in most movies or read in most novels. But it's also infinitely more satisfying, more lasting, and more redemptive than anything our culture can offer.
Rooted in Divine Nature
The foundation of understanding love begins with a simple yet staggering truth: God is love. Not just that God loves, though that's wonderfully true, but that love is His very essence. It's intrinsic to who He is.
First John 4:16 declares, "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." This isn't a characteristic God possesses like we might possess kindness or patience on good days. Love is woven into the fabric of His being. He is love itself—loving, always and forever.
Consider what God said to wayward Israel: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you" (Jeremiah 31:3). Despite their rebellion, disobedience, and repeated failures, God's love remained steadfast. The Psalms echo this theme repeatedly: "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 136:1).
This covenant love—this unwavering commitment—extends to us today. Jesus loved His own to the end (John 13:1). The Father Himself loves you (John 16:27). This isn't obligation or duty. It flows from His heart. It's who He is.
When we grasp this truth, Romans 8 begins to make perfect sense. Nothing can separate us from God's love because God loves us from His heart. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us because His love conquered sin and death itself.
Featured in God's Plan
Interestingly, the word "love" never appears in the Gospel birth narratives. Luke's account, Matthew's genealogy, even John's prologue about the Word becoming flesh—none explicitly mention love in describing Jesus's arrival.
It's Jesus Himself who reveals the motivation behind His coming: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16). The incarnation was a supreme act of love.
Ephesians 2:4-7 paints the full picture: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ... and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
Let that sink in. While we were dead in sin, deceived by the enemy, following the course of this world—God intervened in love. He chose to break through and extend mercy to sinners who would otherwise remain hopeless. He purposed in love to raise us into new life, to seat us with Christ in glory, to display us throughout all history as trophies of His grace.
Without His love, salvation would be impossible. We would be hopelessly lost in our sin. But because He loves, we have hope.
Demonstrated on the Cross
If you ever doubt how God feels about you, look to the cross.
Romans 5:8 says God "shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This is incontrovertible proof. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd... I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:14-15). He continued, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
The very God who is holy and just, who hates sin so much that it separates us from Him eternally, loves us in the midst of our sin. This isn't permission to treat sin lightly, but it is the stunning reality that He loves us enough to save us despite our rebellion.
God doesn't extend His love in measured drops or sparingly. He pours it out in immeasurable torrents through the gift of His Holy Spirit and proves it definitively through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Consummated in the Kingdom
One day, our misunderstandings about love will finally be corrected. In the kingdom, we will fully comprehend the love the Father has for us and live in that love for eternity.
Jesus promised, "I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:3). In John 17:24, He prays, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory."
We are headed for the marriage supper of the Lamb—a glorious consummation of divine love. One day, God will make all things new. We will dwell with Him forever, behold His face, and finally extend love back to Him in the way He deserves.
Living in Love
If love summarizes all God's expectations for us, then it is our greatest good. Jesus said the entire law could be summed up in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
But here's the crucial distinction: we don't do things to earn God's love. We do them because we are loved by God and because we love Him in return.
This transforms everything. It means choosing to love Jesus more than our addictions, our anger, our stress, our careers, our possessions. It means in the moment of temptation, saying, "I love You more, Jesus."
When we sin—and we will—we don't hide from God. We bring our sin into the light, confess it, and let God love us as we are. Then we let Him love us into the people we're supposed to be.
An Advent Challenge
As Christmas approaches, spend time simply loving Jesus. Don't ask for anything. Just sit with Him, let Him love you, and love Him back. Incline your heart toward Him in love.
Because ultimately, to love God and be loved by God—that's your greatest good. That's what you were created for. And in that truth lies the answer to every existential question humanity has ever wrestled with.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are.
When we think about love, our minds often drift to greeting cards, romantic comedies, and warm feelings. We remember crushes from fourth grade, first dates, and butterflies in our stomachs. But what if our cultural understanding of love—as beautiful as it may be—barely scratches the surface of what love truly means?
The final week of Advent invites us to contemplate love not as a fleeting emotion or romantic notion, but as something far more profound and transformative. It challenges us to see love as the deliberate choice to act for another's good, the sacrificial seeking of their welfare above your own, and the faithful forsaking of all others in favor of the one loved.
This definition might feel overwhelming at first. It's certainly more demanding than what we see in most movies or read in most novels. But it's also infinitely more satisfying, more lasting, and more redemptive than anything our culture can offer.
Rooted in Divine Nature
The foundation of understanding love begins with a simple yet staggering truth: God is love. Not just that God loves, though that's wonderfully true, but that love is His very essence. It's intrinsic to who He is.
First John 4:16 declares, "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." This isn't a characteristic God possesses like we might possess kindness or patience on good days. Love is woven into the fabric of His being. He is love itself—loving, always and forever.
Consider what God said to wayward Israel: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you" (Jeremiah 31:3). Despite their rebellion, disobedience, and repeated failures, God's love remained steadfast. The Psalms echo this theme repeatedly: "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 136:1).
This covenant love—this unwavering commitment—extends to us today. Jesus loved His own to the end (John 13:1). The Father Himself loves you (John 16:27). This isn't obligation or duty. It flows from His heart. It's who He is.
When we grasp this truth, Romans 8 begins to make perfect sense. Nothing can separate us from God's love because God loves us from His heart. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us because His love conquered sin and death itself.
Featured in God's Plan
Interestingly, the word "love" never appears in the Gospel birth narratives. Luke's account, Matthew's genealogy, even John's prologue about the Word becoming flesh—none explicitly mention love in describing Jesus's arrival.
It's Jesus Himself who reveals the motivation behind His coming: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16). The incarnation was a supreme act of love.
Ephesians 2:4-7 paints the full picture: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ... and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
Let that sink in. While we were dead in sin, deceived by the enemy, following the course of this world—God intervened in love. He chose to break through and extend mercy to sinners who would otherwise remain hopeless. He purposed in love to raise us into new life, to seat us with Christ in glory, to display us throughout all history as trophies of His grace.
Without His love, salvation would be impossible. We would be hopelessly lost in our sin. But because He loves, we have hope.
Demonstrated on the Cross
If you ever doubt how God feels about you, look to the cross.
Romans 5:8 says God "shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This is incontrovertible proof. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd... I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:14-15). He continued, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
The very God who is holy and just, who hates sin so much that it separates us from Him eternally, loves us in the midst of our sin. This isn't permission to treat sin lightly, but it is the stunning reality that He loves us enough to save us despite our rebellion.
God doesn't extend His love in measured drops or sparingly. He pours it out in immeasurable torrents through the gift of His Holy Spirit and proves it definitively through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Consummated in the Kingdom
One day, our misunderstandings about love will finally be corrected. In the kingdom, we will fully comprehend the love the Father has for us and live in that love for eternity.
Jesus promised, "I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:3). In John 17:24, He prays, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory."
We are headed for the marriage supper of the Lamb—a glorious consummation of divine love. One day, God will make all things new. We will dwell with Him forever, behold His face, and finally extend love back to Him in the way He deserves.
Living in Love
If love summarizes all God's expectations for us, then it is our greatest good. Jesus said the entire law could be summed up in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
But here's the crucial distinction: we don't do things to earn God's love. We do them because we are loved by God and because we love Him in return.
This transforms everything. It means choosing to love Jesus more than our addictions, our anger, our stress, our careers, our possessions. It means in the moment of temptation, saying, "I love You more, Jesus."
When we sin—and we will—we don't hide from God. We bring our sin into the light, confess it, and let God love us as we are. Then we let Him love us into the people we're supposed to be.
An Advent Challenge
As Christmas approaches, spend time simply loving Jesus. Don't ask for anything. Just sit with Him, let Him love you, and love Him back. Incline your heart toward Him in love.
Because ultimately, to love God and be loved by God—that's your greatest good. That's what you were created for. And in that truth lies the answer to every existential question humanity has ever wrestled with.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are.
Posted in Holidays
Posted in Advent2025, #Love, #God\'sLove, #LoveofChrist, #RedeemingLove, #SteadfastLove, #Sacrifce, #Christmas
Posted in Advent2025, #Love, #God\'sLove, #LoveofChrist, #RedeemingLove, #SteadfastLove, #Sacrifce, #Christmas
Recent
Archive
2026
January
2025
April
May
June
July
August
September
November
No Comments