The Greatest Love

 John 15:9-13; I Corinthians 3: 1-8a


This week’s Advent candle is Love. Divine love seems to be the attribute that all attributes spring from. The greatest love is what Christ had for us in his outpouring of himself to death to ransom us from sin. Christ proved his great love in this way.

Where does this love come from? Christ tells how as the father loved him – this love was passed on to us. We are told in John 15 to abide in Christ’s love. This means to remain, stay, continue, endure, and be present to. How do we do this? We do so by keeping God’s commandments and as he states in verse 12, “love one another as I have loved you.” The ultimate love being the laying down of one’s life for one’s friend. True love goes beyond just professing it, but in the services we render.

What this love looks like in every day life is told of in I Corinthians 13. Love is said to be patient and kind. Then he tells how it isn’t. It is not envious, boastful, or rude, insisting on its own way, or resentful. It rejoices in the truth, not in wrong doings. Then it is said to bear, believe, hope, and endure all things. Love never ends.

This is a good checklist to see if we are acting out of love – the love Christ commands us to have or acting out of self-centeredness versus abiding in God’s love. We each have our own weaknesses be it envy, impatience, or resentment. This gives us more reason to return to and abide in Christ’s love asking forgiveness and power over our weaknesses.

In the darkness of our weakness there is another light shining along with the candle of hope. It is the candle of love proclaiming that true love will be born at Christmas showing us in his life example how one can live in this great love. Amen

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Join Me on a Lenten Journey

For those of you not familiar with Lent, it is a season of forty days, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, which means "spring." The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry. Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others. Easter comes early this year. Many of us not brought up in this tradition can still embrace its emphasis of focusing on the gifts Christ has brought into your lives and finding ways to share the love of Christ to others. This emphasis of love goes along well with the beginning of Lent this year, Ash Wednesday, falling on all days – Valentine’s Day. So whether or not you plan
Read more

Setting Your Hope in God

 Disclaimer: Paul talks about the Rapture in this passage a concept I still struggle with. I believe that once you die you go direct to the Lord, so bodies awaiting till the rapture to rise is hard for me to grasp. I can see how Paul was comforting the Thessalonians here but was his concept correct? Add any comments you wish to this bafflement of mine. That said, I wrote this per the text. What do you all think? Psalms 78:1-7; I Thessalonians 4:13-18   The psalmist in Psalms 78 is not only telling his current audience to listen to his teaching but to pass it on from one generation to the next. Just like he has heard it from his ancestors, he asks the Israelites to teach them to the coming generations. They are to teach them to the children yet unborn so that these children will teach their children. Why? So, they should set their hope in God, not forgetting God’s works. Fast forward to the New Testament where Paul is passing on this hope to the Thessalonians. The question these bel
Read more

Do What they Teach, Not What they Do

  Matthew 23: 1-12; I Thessalonians 2:9-13   Jesus when he talks about the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23 basically says: “Do what they teach but not what they do.” What he questions most is their motivation. They do what they do to be seen by others. They wear fancy robes and love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with respect. All this Jesus sums up in the word pride or not being humble. He states then that those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Years later Paul writes to the Thessalonians telling how he did what Christ had instructed. That he was humble leading a life worthy of God, his motivation being for God’s glory not his own. He tells that not only are the Thessalonians his witnesses of this but God also. They have seen how pure, upright, and blameless his conduct has been. He encourages the Thessalonians to do the same. To live a life worthy of
Read more