December 25th
Merry Christmas
Today's Bible Reading
Love Manifest
1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
It’s Christmas Day. This day is our day to stop what we are doing and consider what God has done. It is the day we rejoice in God’s greatest gift to us. It is the gift of the babe in Bethlehem, Immanuel, God with us. We celebrate the birth of Jesus.
But for many the celebration is more about the season then the reason for the season. This time of year is more about revelry and reindeer then a redeemer. It is focused on Santa not the Savior. The meaning and message of Christ’s advent is lost in trappings of the season.
John in his epistle brings the Christ of Christmas back in focus. He directs our gaze away for the lights and the tinsel to the true meaning of this season. Here we are told of God’s love. We are told that His love is manifest to mankind. His love is made know to us. It is revealed to us. It is not some hidden trait that is never unveiled to us, but one that was made visible and verbal so all could encounter and experience God’s love.
He manifested His love for us through the presence of Jesus and the purpose of Jesus. Jesus was sent by the Father into the world. His presence was the proof of His love for us. God was not will to spare His son, but sent Him to us out of His immense and immeasurable love for us. It was the presence of Jesus incarnate as an infant that displayed God’s great love for you and me. His love sent His son.
It wasn’t just that He sent His son to us, but that He allowed His son to be sacrificed for us. God was not willing for us to perish but that “we might live through Him”. As sons of Adam we had incurred the curse of sin and death passed on to all of us. Yet God did not abandon us in our sin, but out of love for us sent Jesus to live the life that we could not and die the death that we deserved. That is how much God loves us. He pronounced the penalty for our sins and then provided in Christ the perfect permanent sacrifice for our sins. He purposed in Christ our pardon. We live because of Him. His love sacrificed His son.
Love always manifests its presence in action. God set Jesus to us. God saved us through Jesus. That’s the story we celebrate on this Christmas day. God’s love was made know through the one born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. The baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:11-12) His love was manifest by the one who would be taken down off the cross bound it in linen cloths with the spices (John 19:40) and laid in a tomb, three days later to rise from that very grave. His love would be expressed in Jesus who was sent and sacrificed as the propitiation for our sins (1John 4:10). He sent His only son that we might be saved. That’s how much Christmas meant to God, perhaps it should mean that much to us as well.
Today celebrate God’s love manifest. Rejoice that He sent Jesus to us to born in Bethlehem and to be sacrificed for our sins on Calvary. We can’t have Christmas without Easter. Don’t let God’s love displayed at Christmas be lost in the trappings of the season. Remember that God’s love sent at Christmas is God’s love shown at Easter.
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