Advent Week Four: Love

All of us long for love — to experience relationships in which another person desires and knows us intimately and pursues our good even so. But this is not just a longing; it’s a need. It’s embedded in who we are. We are made in the image of God, a God who exists in a fellowship of love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Without love, from God and each other, we are not whole, flourishing image bearers.

And so the Enemy attacks our loves in order to mar our image and dishonor the Lord. He convinces us that God does not have our best interests in mind. He disorders our loves by drawing our primary love away from our Creator and towards created things. He directs our loves inward to ourselves and against God and neighbor. We begin fearing to love those who are different, and we fear losing the love of those who are the same. Distractions limit our desires for and engagement with others and instead breed shallow relationships at best or indifferent relationships at worst. Choked by lies, distortions, and false promises, love withers, the world suffers, and we perish.

But “in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10). In fact, we were sinners, enemies of God. But because of his incredible love, he gave his only Son to us. Jesus Christ entered our world of hate, indifference, and misguided loves — all of which are ultimately directed against him — to perform the greatest act of love. He died on our behalf, wicked as we are, so that we might not perish but have everlasting life, basking in the radiance of God’s perfect, eternal love (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-11). This is the foundation of our peace, our joy, and all our hope. In Advent, we celebrate the fact that he implants this love in our hearts now, defeating sin and the devil, restoring the image of God in us, and reconciling us to himself and each other. And he will continue to water and nurture his love in us until it comes into full bloom when he returns for his Bride.