Advent Week 4: Love.

From the Garden, to the Fall, to the manger, to the cross, to this very day - the heart of God has been people. Loving people. Longing for relationship with people. He Himself is a triune God (existing as 3 in 1 -  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), His whole existence is about relationship. So, you can imagine how God must’ve felt for the thousands of years our relationship with Him was broken. When we get a clearer peak inside the heart of God, we can see God’s love woven in even the darkest parts of our story. 

For 400 years, God was silent before news of Jesus came. There is even love in the silence. In the in between. Receiving things before their time is more detrimental than the wait. For example, you are extremely hungry so you heat up your HotPocket™️. How many times have we burned ourselves eating the HotPocket™️ instead of waiting a minute or 2 for it to cool down? In the moment, all we can see is that we are hungry and this food has the potential to fix that. God sees that the pain of waiting does not compare to the burn of receiving something before its time.

God does everything in love. Every thing He gives is given in love. Every answer that is ‘no’ or ‘not yet’ is given in love. Even His judgement is done in love. There is love in everything God allows. How? God is the very embodiment of love. If nothing else, God has proven to be dedicated to Himself and quite literally cannot do anything outside of His nature.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son. Whoever believes in Him, will have eternal life. “ John 3:16 NIV

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:9-10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.” Psalms‬ ‭117:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬