Advent
Unwrapping the Gifts of Advent - The Gift of Love
On this fourth Sunday in Advent, we are only days away from the celebration of Christ’s birth. It is only fitting that we reflect upon God’s great love for us. Our Maker, the Creator of the heavens and earth, could have left us to our own designs and suffering, but because of His love for us, He created a way for us to be in communion with Him forever. Rather than being separated by a chasm of sin and evil, He bridged the gap between our brokenness and His holiness with the gift of His Son.
“God showed how much he loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world
so that we might have eternal life through Him” (1 John 4:9).
There has never been a greater gift! Emmanuel – God with us. When Jesus was born twenty centuries ago, true Lovecame down to earth in the body of an infant. He lived and died to set us free. Through His sacrifice on the cross, we now know the incredible love of God. He desires that not one of us should perish, but rather that we all would find everlasting life through Him.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Now is the time to end our exile and welcome Him into our hearts! Let us rejoice in the gift of God’s true Love – Emmanuel, our God who came near!
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
-John Neal (1818 – 1866)
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14 Comments
And love is the greatest of all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post.
There is no greater gift and no greater name than Emmanuel!
ReplyDeleteJoan -as I have been writing about the genealogy of Jesus, and seeing the "less than perfect" ancestors in His lineage, I was reminded that love covers a multitude of sins. His great love, and sacrifice on the cross - the more I think about it, the more amazed I am that someone loved us enough to die for us.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Joan
Hi Joan, such a beautiful post and reminder about Christmas is all about. I'm thankful for people like yourself who are showing me ways to make this season more about Christ than I have in the past.
ReplyDeleteGod bless
Tracy
Amen, Joan. God's love for us is immeasurable, boundless, ageless, and it comes in a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger - Jesus is the Gift!
ReplyDeleteHave a blessed week!
Rina
Thanks for sharing this Joan! I am touched beyond words whenever I think of my Creator coming to earth to be with us. What beautiful thoughts. :)
ReplyDeleteNo greater love! Wishing you & yours a Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteAmen and Amen! What an amazing mystery, that the Creator of all would wrap Himself in human flesh and become one of us, without putting aside His divinity and without sin. He is the only way that sinful man could be reconciled to Holy God, as He paid the price in full so that the Father seeing believers sees not our sins, but the perfect righteousness of His Son.
ReplyDeleteMay you and yours experience all the love, joy and peace of Christmas now and until He comes again!
His great Love covers a multitude of sins. He Loved us before we loved Him, and give His life while we were yet sinners. How great is His Love?? Unmeasurable!
ReplyDeleteI too, am so grateful that He came down to us. What a blessing.
ReplyDeleteAnd the greatest of these is LOVE! His love!
ReplyDeleteNo greater love indeed! :)
ReplyDeleteMay you enjoy the blessings of Jesus' Birth, and may the love that you share remain throughout the coming year!
Merry Christmas Joan!
Denise
You know, Joan - this song, and the name Emmanuel, has stuck with my spirit this season. I am captured anew by the mind-boggling thought that Jesus actually became one of us - and that He continues to live in us. He is indeed WITH us in every possible way.
ReplyDeleteLately I have been overwhelmed with a deepening sense of how much the Lord loves me. It's rather overpowering when you really grasp how wide, how high, how deep His love really is. It doesn't take looking much farther than a lowly manger, and a rugged cross.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas (if we don't talk before that!)
GOD BLESS!
Grateful for the love I know in Jesus... a keeping, eternal love that holds me close to heaven.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Joan.
peace~elaine
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