Christmas Love
Most of us would like to think that Christmas time, with all of its variety of activities and gifts, is centered around the idea of Christmas love – and we really should! But love is such a many-faceted expression in humanity that there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding which occurs. Love’s various aspects get distorted and out of balance in the pressure of holiday demands.
Giving, which is a wonderful component of Christmas love, can deteriorate quickly into a competition for “most-loved-present” or an expectation of wants. We sometimes lose sight of the reason behind it all, rushing to fill your shopping list.
Family, that special God-given arena where love can be learned and practiced in a safe environment, is threatened when schedules can run us ragged. Christmas love can disintegrate into a selfish push for individual needs, rather than sacrificial giving in order to truly invest in each other.
The emotional side of Christmas love is usually fueled by all those warm, fuzzy holiday movies that pull at our hearts and make us wish that our lives would have that “happy ending”. But emotion soon dissipates when others around us don’t exhibit the same warm feelings. The reality of house work, homework, jobs, child care and other duties strip us clean of those romantic notions. Christmas time can turn into a roller coaster of unfulfilled hopes and unrealized expectations.
The only consistent expression of love that has ever been seen in this world was when God put on flesh and was born as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. Not because babies aren’t lovable, but because that one event clearly proclaimed the preparatory love of the Father, the sacrificial love of the Son, and the anticipatory love of the Holy Spirit.
God’s love never fails in its purpose or its display. God loves freely. God loves perfectly. God loves faithfully. His love is not to be taken advantage of by our hearts; rather His love opens the door to real relationship that can teach us to be more stable in the way we show love to others, all year long!
How exciting to be His people,
Pastor David Vanderpool
