1 John 4:7-8 NIV
"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."
Because God is love.
For love comes from God.
Dear friends, let us love one another.
I was not raised by religious parents. Celebrating traditions in Christianity were not part of my childhood. Yet I am so incredibly grateful – every, single, day, - for the life that the Lord has given me; hardships included.
As I search for guidance on what to write for the fourth advent week, I can’t help but pause at the pattern of the four weeks. It is a familiar pattern that I believe is meant to be a model for our lives.
This pattern begins by wishing, wanting, hoping for something. Still, we don’t get overwhelmed in our desire, rather we find peace in our faith that our hope will one day be realized. This knowing brings joy to our hearts and as joy helps to open our hearts, Love can flow freely from above, to around us, and back up in gratitude.
I am humbled by our lack of understanding when faced with God’s greatness. I cannot pretend to comprehend His great design, but God must have not designed this process lightly. There must have been much care and attention put on this process; both in the worldly structure (hope for provisions, success, relationships) and within us as His creations (hope for His guidance, His gift of eternal life). Regardless of what we are hoping for, with peace and joy, Love can spread and grow within us.
Are we constantly living mini advents year-round? Do you hope for things? Believe in them and live in faith for those things? Does this bring you joy? Do you spread Love when you are experiencing joy?
“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God”
Could this be a recipe for making space for God in our lives? For God’s pattern was this - Jesus came, gave us hope in salvation and left us with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Max Lucado seems to have said something similar. In the article, “Max Lucado Launches John 3:16 Movement” his take on John 3:16 is discussed:
Max Lucado, author of 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, calls the well-known verse “a 26-word parade of hope: beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same.”
“John 3:16 has always been that one verse that I thought summarizes, encapsulates, [and] carries the heart of the Gospel like no other verse,” Lucado said Monday on Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, John 3:16 states. (Christianpost.com)
For God so LOVED the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Because God loved the world, He sent us hope, the Prince of Peace, that whoever believes and holds this hope, will have eternal life.
The last key step in bringing God and love to our lives, to this world; we must now choose to make space in our lives for the Holy Spirit to thrive and spread Love.
For no cake was ever baked without the action of making it. While God is all powerful, He wants our participation in the kitchen.
This month (and beyond) I will look for His presence and make space for it in my life by having hope and living in the peace and joy of that hope.
This way I can both honor God’s gift of Jesus and prepare for His return, by living in Love, by living with God here and now.
Peter 1:22-23
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
About the Author
Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.