The Christmas story is about love

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. – I John 4:7-12

After going through a somewhat difficult year, we now come to the eve of Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas, the expression of God outpouring his love for humanity.

As we celebrate during this Christmas season, we acknowledge the gifts of God which came to us as a poor baby boy, born in a manger over 2,000 years ago. Christmas is much more than decorations, parties and presents. Christmas is God’s love, which came down to join man in his unholy state. Christmas is love at its zenith. Yes, love came down at Christmas.

The word love has different connotations for different people. To one, it means one thing, and to another something quite different.

The only time the true and single meaning for love is used is when God says, “I love.” The Greek for this is “agape”, a term that defines God’s immeasurable and incomparable love for humanity.

Love is divine. When God says “I love”, he makes an eternal unwavering commitment.

As human beings, we are reserved in our commitment of love. We hold back. It is difficult for us to give up everything for love.

However, when God makes the commitment of saying he loves us, he forgives our most grievous infractions. There are no buts in God’s commitment to us.

St. Paul tells us in Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God’s love cannot be matched by any.

Love is at the center of Christmas and the Christian faith. The text tells us that “everyone who loves has been born of God and loves God.”

So often, we, in the Christian faith, talk about our love for God, yet we live hating our fellow men. We only mouth the words of love. As Christians and people of the world, we spend an insurmountable amount of time talking about love, but when one looks at the world around us, one questions whether we are serious.

One of the reasons we are not able to display the love which comes from God is simply because it does not exist in our hearts. The apostle tells us that God is love. He is the essence of love.

God demonstrated his love for humanity through his actions. He sent his son into the world as an example for us. Without the son of God coming into the world, we devious and evil humans could never find our way back to God.

Many of us give not because we love or that we care, but we do so because it is expected of us. Furthermore, we expect something in return. However, God gives us an eternal gift because he cares. He cares so much; he committed and sent his greatest treasure.

God’s love demanded that we would not be deprived of the very best. He sent the very best, his son. Our God did not do this because we love him. No! Jesus came into the world because God is so in love with his creation. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

God, in his action toward us, demonstrated to us that we should love one another. As God demonstrated his love through his actions, we humans should do likewise.

When Christ was asked about the greatest commandments, he responded, “First, love God with all your heart, body and soul. Secondly, love your fellow men as yourself. When we love one another, then we demonstrate that God lives in us. Remember, the Christmas story is about love.

Therefore, as we journey through life, let us continue to live as God would have us do, loving our fellow men and demonstrating that love in the way we act towards one another.

Merry Christmas! May God’s blessing go with you into the new year. Amen.

• Rev. Samuel M. Boodle, pastor at the Lutheran Church of Nassau, 119 John F. Kennedy Drive, can be reached at P.O. Box N 4794, Nassau, Bahamas; or telephone: 426-9084; E-mail: lutheranchurch@coralwave.com; website: www.nassaulutheranchurch.org.   

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