This is another blog post in my series of guest blog posts I starte a while back. This one is from my friend, Joy Burgess, and she did a great one. Thanks Joy!
Christmas and the Gospel According to Love
“The Gospel can be summed up by saying that it is the tremendous, tender, compassionate, gentle, extraordinary, explosive, revolutionary revelation of Christ’s love.” - Brennan Manning
I love Christmastime. I enjoy the music: “Oh Holy Night,” “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” Mary Did You Know,” “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night” and the list could go on indefinitely. The church bells behind my home are constantly tolling out Christmas carols, ringing out the story every day. At this time of year, every Christmas light seems to shine brightly, reminding me of the light that came quietly into the world so long ago. Those wrapped packages under the tree whisper the tale of the greatest gift. Yes, so many things about the season draw me in to the incredible realization of what happened on that lonely night in a stable. If I listen close enough, the whole world is singing the timeless story of love – the love of God.
I always knew that God was love. I’m said the verse thousands of times, “For God so loved the world…” What I didn’t realize was how furiously and deeply God loved ME. I didn’t realize that His love was unconditional. I spent too long thinking that His love was dependent on my performance. Every time I made a mistake, I was sure that I had come to the end of Christ’s love for me.
That’s what is so incredible about the love that we celebrate on Christmas – it’s unending, it’s perfect, it’s unconditional, it’s compassionate and it’s reliable. His love is never based on performance, it never changes and it’s as infinite as the great I AM himself. In fact, love is God’s very identity. Everything about God is based upon his incredible love for us. In Dr. S.M. Lockridge’s sermon, “That’s My King,” he says it well: “My King is the only one of whom there are no means of measure that can define His limitless love.”
Recently, I was discussing the love of God with a friend of mine and we were struck with such a stunning thought. Before God sent Jesus, He was fully aware of all our shortcomings as humans. He already knew about every sin that each of us would commit. He realized how far we were from grace. Yet, knowing all of this, He still sent Jesus. That idea takes my breath away every time I think about it. He knew every person that would reject his gift, knew how so many of us would take so long to accept his love and how many times we’d make mistakes, and still, Jesus came.
Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in the craziness that seems to come with Christmas today. We all seem to have so much to do at Christmas that we often fail to take a moment like Mary to ponder these things in our hearts. I think Mary had just a little glimpse of the explosive, furious, extraordinary love of God and all that it meant for humanity. As I celebrate this year, I want to pause to ponder the greatest expression of love that we’ll ever know – the love of God made flesh, laid in a manger and sacrifice for our salvation.
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