Cause You came near

From the everlasting

To the world we live

The Father’s only Son

This is one of the songs I really love to sing out. It’s a story in itself. The Father’s only Son, “…who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage”, came near.

Why?

Because “all of us like sheep have gone astray; we have turned –everyone- to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). No one looked for God. Rather, it was God who reached out and looked for us.

“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). This great and awesome God, the Creator of the universe, the One who hangs the earth upon nothing (Job 26:7), chose to send His beloved Son to us out of His great love for us.

I remember a story I once read. There was a man who visited a church and before the pastor gave his sermon for the evening, he invited the man to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt suitable for the service. The pastor introduced the guest minister as one of his childhood dearest friends. The elderly man stood up, stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak. He told about the story of a father, a son and a friend of the father’s son who went sailing off the Pacific Coast when a furious storm loomed and blocked their way to get back to the shore. The father was an experienced sailor, however, the waves were so high and the father could not keep the boat upright. The boat capsized and the three were swept to the ocean. Grabbing the rescue line, the father had to make the most piercing decision in his life: to which boy he would throw the other end of the life line. The father knew that his son was a Christian and that he would step into eternity with Jesus but the son’s friend was not. As the father yelled out, “I love you, son!”, he threw out the life line to the son’s friend. By the time the son’s friend had reached the capsized boat, the son had disappeared beneath the angry waves. The elderly man likened this story to the great love of God, choosing to sacrifice his son to save his son’s friend. When the service was finished, two teenagers approched the old man. One of the boys politely commented that it was a nice story but it was unrealistic for a father to give up his only son’s life in hopes that the son’s friend would come to know the Lord. The old man understood the young man’s point and replied, “You’ve got a point there. But I want you to know that I understand more than most the pain God must have felt to give up His only Son. You see, I’m that father who lost his son to ocean that day, and my son’s friend that I chose to save is your pastor.”

This is God’s love.

It is indescribable. It’s too deep it cannot be fathomed. This is the love that chose to come and save us. In Zephaniah 3:17, it says, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing.”

He loves us, He delights to save us and in His love He will rejoice over us with singing.

This love produces unspeakable joy and peace that passes all understanding. This love enables us to love as well. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19).

May this season bring us closer to the Lover of our soul, the One who loved us and came to save us.

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” – John 13:34-35

Have you ever had to work, support, or be around someone that you thought was nearly unlovable? Or, better yet, have you yourself ever felt unlovable. Girl, if you’re a college student, or are anything like me, then you probably find yourself in this situation often.

It happens, and I mean that in the most humble way I can.

Life happens, and so do situations like these.

Almost every semester I’m faced with someone with in my classes that I just cant work with (and with my luck, I usually end up working with them anyways). They are usually those Type B students that procrastinate, slack off, and end up sending every fiber of my brain over the edge. But, every time I find myself sitting in my group project, screaming internally, I can hear God whispering the same thing: love them.

Dang. I mean, God can seriously throw a gut punch every once in awhile, ya know? Love someone who is annoying, painful to work with, and completely different from me?! Yeah, that is exactly what He is saying.

To make things even worse, God doesn’t just tell us to love certain people, but rather He calls us, as Christians, to love everyone!

John 13: 34 tells us to: A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Simple enough.

But it’s in verse 35 that God convicts us as Christians to fulfill His command: By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Everyone will know we are His disciples.

No matter where we go, or what we do, as Christians we represent God and His Kingdom. It doesn’t matter if there is a crowd, or one person; a classroom, or a single group, by loving others, even the unlovable ones, we are showing everyone what Christ’s love looks like. If that isn’t a life calling, then I don’t know what is!

I’m not telling you that you won’t be aggravated. No, in fact, it will be hard.

These situations will be hard and the people in your life will sometimes be beyond unlovable. Sometimes you will even seem like the unlovable one, and in those times we can still cling to this verse. We can still love those that persecuted, isolate, and hurt us.

He called you to His will and plan for your life.

So, go out into this world. Love the unlovable. Live out your calling on your life and act out as His disciples. In a world that is filled with so much hate; in a world where hate is the new bedrock of society, be His truth, be His light, be His Loving Disciple.

“A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” – Luke 1:39-45

“You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.” – 1 Peter 1:22-23

Love is presented mainly as a emotion when the truth is that love is a verb.

Love is an action expressed by those that are giving love to those who are receiving love. Today love can masquerade as many broken and untrue things but the reality is this, God is love. The deepest and most profound sense of the word. This love has the power to completely one hundred precent ravish us in the most beautiful way.

God showed us His love in action by giving us His one and only Son (John 3:16). We may have heard these words before but let us take a minute to really let those words be expanded to us. God gave us Jesus to that we could be in relationship once more with Him. God is love in its purest, truest form.

When God sent His son to us, He choose a willing vessel to cary out His action of love.

Mary wasn’t this super extraordinary woman. She, like many before her, had her heart set on the God and had “found favor with God.” Luke 1:30. Let us be like Mary that we may also find favor with God.

It was in this moment that God sent the angel Gabriel to tell Mary that she was chosen and favored to be a vessel for God. Mary was to bring the Son of God into this world. She then had the opportunity to show her love in action. Even though she was chosen and favored by God, Mary could have said “no”. Mary, however, choose to express her love by receiving that God had for her—this was her love toward God in action. Mary was completely transformed when she received this love from God. From the inside to the outside, Mary experienced the fullness of God by receiving His love.

Just as it was true for Mary, this is true for us.

God still desires to give us His love. It’s still His gift to us and when we receive this gift we can love God and love one another (Matthew 22:36-40). Part of the Father’s heart for us is that we would love one another.

1 Peter 1:22 tells us that we are to “love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” Since we know who love is, we are to show who love is and show our love in actions toward those in our lives. Take some time to ask the Lord if there are areas in your life where you aren’t showing sincere love toward someone else.

As we prepare to enter the final week of Advent let us rejoice in what the Lord has done in this time. Let us continue to be changed by the wonderful and powerful love of Christ. This love that covers a multitude of sin (1 Peter 4:8), love that has paid for it all on the cross (John 19:10), love that offers eternal life (John 3:17), love that sets us free (Galatians 5:1).

God’s love will never run out. God’s love will never lose power.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.” Hebrews 3:18