For the last Advent theme, love, I can think of no better Christmas character than that of Jesus to focus on. His love for me… for all of us… remains unfathomable to me.
In all my brokenness, I cannot comprehend offering my love to someone who knowingly hurts me, betrays me, abuses me, lies to me, and consistently behaves like an arrogant narcissist-never being grateful for ALL that I have given her.
And that’s not even scratching the surface of how I have broken the heart of God.
And yet, He loves me (and He loves you).
Not because I’ve earned it or deserved it or because I love Him back. He loves me because that’s who He is, and He chooses to love in such a way that is wholly dependent upon His nature and not mine.
I just can’t comprehend that the most powerful, perfect, Creator of the universe, would choose to limit himself in the form of His creation and come as the most weak, vulnerable being to completely ordinary people. I cannot comprehend a love that would choose to go through puberty, adolescence, and adulthood in a completely average, ordinary family only to be ridiculed & mocked and then to willingly offer Himself to die for the very creation that hates Him, betrays Him, and kills Him.
If I’m being honest because I know my limitations of giving & receiving love, I struggle to believe this kind of love of God’s.
Why? Why would He love people…love me….when I don’t/can’t love Him like this?
Why would He choose to be crucified & permanently scarred like this?
The only answer I can offer is love. God’s love is unconditional, unending, and unconnected to my love for Him. God created us in His image for an unbroken relationship with Him and is unwilling to allow anything to come between us & His love. By choosing to sacrifice Himself, for us, not only does it allow reconciliation to Him, but it allows us to identify with His wounds.
As broken & wounded people, it’s hard to know or love those who are too far removed from our circumstances. It’s hard to connect with a god who feels distant, whose perfection & power seem threatening to our limited abilities. But, there is something that compels us to draw our hearts to His in a God that chose to bear scars.
Scars of love.
Scars of love that remind me that my own is not to cause me shame. Scars that demonstrate a connection to my pain. Scars that allow my eyes to lift towards His-towards a God that understands. Scars that bring Him to a place of nearness as He chose them knowing all the ways I would fail Him, and He chose them just the same.
Maybe this Advent season you find yourself struggling to relate to the ideas of joy, hope, and peace because somehow they just don’t resonate with your life in this season. If that’s you, can I just say, I understand?
But the advent theme of love is different. It’s not about you at all-it’s about Him. It’s about what has already been done for you. Advent’s focus on love only requires one thing our willingness to open our hands & receive. It doesn’t ask anything from us, no lengthy list of demands, no shame-inducing tirades; a gift to us that cost Him everything.
A gift that reminds me that I get to choose whether or not to receive it & unwrap it & make it my own. A gift that I can choose to hold at a distance-admiring its beauty on occasion or one that I can choose to reject altogether.
But I find myself wondering this advent season, if I do choose to unwrap this gift & make it mine, how then might His love change me? How might His love bring His hope into my hopelessness? How might His love bring His peace into the places of my worry? How might His love bring His joy into my sorrow & shame?
Maybe, just maybe, the key to Advent’s reminders of hope, peace, & joy hinges solely on His love and not my own. Maybe, just maybe, if I start with the gift of love that I didn’t earn & don’t deserve, I will find the promises of Advent.
Maybe, I just needed a reminder to open the gift that is already mine and receive the love that has been there all along.
Maybe this Christmas, you do too? ❤️
Rooted Leaders 