Love - Advent Week Three

 Sunday, Dec 4:  Colossians 3:14  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Question to ponder:  How do you clothe yourself in love?  What does that look like or feel like for you?

Monday, Dec 5  Ephesians 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

Question of the day:  To reflect something means to “throw back without absorbing” it.  To resemble means to “have qualities or features in common with” something.  Does the love between husband and wife (read all of Ephesians 5:22-30 for a better view) reflect or resemble the love of God for us?  Or would you choose another word?

Tuesday, Dec 6:  Romans 13:10  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Question of the day:  Who is our neighbor?  How does Jesus define a neighbor?  How does the Holy Spirit fit into this definition of a neighbor for you?

Wednesday, Dec 7:  1 John 3:14  We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Question of the day:  What dies when we do not love?  What implications does that have for our own salvation?

Thursday, Dec 8:  1 Corinthians 13:4-7  Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Question to ponder:  John set a very high standard for what love should look like.  What is the hardest part of that passage for you?  How can you work on it to better embody the love of God through the Holy Spirit?

Friday, Dec 9:  Romans 8:39  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Question to ponder:  Do you see the Holy Spirit’s presence in us as a part of this promise?  Why or why not?

Saturday, Dec 10:  1 John 4:12   No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Question to ponder:  What does it mean that God’s love is “perfected in us?”  What is the role of the Holy Spirit in that perfect love?

Advent Candle Lighting for Week 3

Hymn:  The King of Love My Shepherd Is  456 LBW, verses 1-3-6

Today, the Third Sunday of Advent, we light the Candle of Love.  Through this week, we have been thinking about spiritual love and how God’s love is manifest in us towards others.  God’s love is perfect, a guide for us in how to love others, whether family, friends, or total strangers.  As we think back on the verses this week, one thing is striking to me - every verse is about how we should love, not how we should feel.  Love is a verb, an action word, a direct and decisive effort.  As we move towards the manger, where love was made human in the form of a baby, we are reminded of the pure love we feel when we hold a newborn.  We count the fingers and toes and admire the tiny lips and little nose, and we ignore all the trials that come with it.  So, too, should we love others - focusing on the positives, and discarding what we dislike, demonstrating the love of God through our own actions.  We are imperfect - we cannot love exactly as God perfectly loves us.  But we can, and should, try to love others with Christian grace, even when they are least loveable.

Let us pray.  Dearest Lord Jesus, help us to be a reflection of your perfect love each day.  Give us the insight to overlook the negative things we see in people, and to touch them with grace and mercy, so they, too, feel your love.  As the Holy Spirit works within us, help us to be the best reflection of your love as we move through the world this week.  In your name we ask this.  Amen.