We live in a time when love is seen in so many different ways, and the meaning of the word has been watered down, especially in the English language, where our one word for love has broad meaning.
Yet love is something that everyone desires. Everyone wants to be loved by someone. I have even heard this from someone looking to have a child. Her desire was to have a child so that she could have someone to love her, and for her to love back.
The love of another human being is wonderful, but this craving for love may be a sign of something else. We were created as loved beings. Loved by our Creator. We may not know His love. We may not desire His love. But He loves us just the same.
Christmas is the season of love.
Christmas is the season of love. It is the season when we celebrate that God’s great love came down from Heaven.
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Gal. 4:4-5 NIV
And what was the motivation behind this?
“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 NIV
Divine Fatherly Love
Being a father, I cannot fathom this level of love. To be willing to sacrifice a child, let alone your only child, especially for those who were in conflict with you, is quite honestly beyond my comprehension. But this is exactly the kind of love God has for us. Read the end of Romans chapter 8, and you will learn more about just how far God’s love for you goes.
Doesn’t matter who you are, or what you have done, God loves you (Rom. 5:8). He loves you so much that He was willing to send His Son to die for You. This is what Christmas is all about. Jesus leaving Heaven and coming to earth, born of a virgin, fully man and fully God (born of Mary and the Holy Spirit).
Born to die a sacrifice for our sins. And right up through the end, as Jesus’ earthly ministry wrapped up, Jesus loved us.
“When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals---one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.” Luke 23:33-34 NIV
This is love!
And we were created to love. We were created to love God back. In fact, this is the Greatest Commandment.
“'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Luke 10:27 NIV
We love because we are loved…
“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.” 1 John 4:9-11 NIV
This Christmas, may you know (or remember) that Christmas is a sign of God’s great love for you, and may you seek to return His love by loving Him back, and by loving others in His name.
Along the Multicolored Road 
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