12/22/24-12/28/24: ADVENT READINGS:

Read Malachi 3:1-5; Romans 8:18-25; Isaiah 52:7-10; Revelation 21:1-4.

fourth SUNDAY OF ADVENT – love

The Summit of Love

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”  1 John 3:1

Mary and Joseph deeply loved the Child God gave them, even becoming refugees to spare His life when King Herod tried to kill Him (Matthew 2:13).

But their love was almost nothing compared with the infinite love of God for His Son.  The Bible declares, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand” (John 3:35).  Can you even begin to imagine the Father’s emotions that first Christmas as His dearly loved Son left Heaven for earth, knowing He would one day go to the Cross, “…despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3)?

We rightly focus on God’s love for us.  But don’t lose sight of what it cost the Father to send His beloved Son into the world.  Why did He do it?  Because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). 

God loves the Son – and He loves you as well.

Billy Graham, Christmas: The Miracle of God With Us, ©2005, p8.

CONTINUE WITH WEEKLY READINGS AND DEVOTIONALS