LOVE.  This past Sunday's Advent theme was love.  

That's a no-brainer.  If the Christmas story is not a love story, then we have totally missed the point!

The Bible says, "God is love."  (1 John 4;16b)  If that is His identity and character, then everything He does is with the pure motive of love.  And who is the object of His love?  Some people believe God only loves those who are good, who do good things.  Or that God chooses to love some and not others, that He plays favourites.  The Jewish people were God's special and chosen nation, but never did Yahweh ever say He only loved them and not any other nations.  He loves sinners.  He loves outcasts.  He loves rebels and failures.  He loves us all.

In fact, John 3:16 declares "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  That word world is translated from the Greek as cosmos or cosmon, which means people, generally the human race.  When the angel appeared to announce the birth of God's Son, the wording is "...I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."  The commentators say that the translation was specifically news for the people of Israel, the Jewish nation.  Later in Luke 2:14 and 32, the promises of peace on earth and light for revelation to the Gentiles does extend the coming of the Saviour to include the non-Jews, all nations.  You and me.

This is the Gospel, the Good News that us Christians are always talking about!  God loves us all and includes us all in sending His Son to be our Saviour.  We are welcomed in to this wonderful, freeing relationship with God by believing in His Son.  "...because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved....For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9 & 13)

Receiving the love of God through Jesus Christ seems easy.  We all want to be loved.  Mostly we find it a very good thing to be on the receiving end of a gift, especially a free gift!  But in relationships, the love is to be mutual, going back and forth.  Our response is to love in return.

1 John 4:19 clarifies the direction that love is to take.  "We love because He first loved us."  Love originates in God, who is love, and is to flow out.  In both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus explains even further to whom that divine love is to flow out to from our re-born hearts.  First to God Himself  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)  He deserves our first priority of love, with all that we are.

Next, we are to love our neighbour.  Again, 1 John 4 describes the love to our neighbours as the very proof of our genuine faith in Jesus, evidence that we are not like everyone else who loves those who love them.  Christian love is shown to our neighbours and - gasp! - even our enemies!  (Luke 6:27-36) "But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you..." This is where even the Jews who were trained in the Law of God were astonished at the lengths to which Jesus took His preaching and His new commandments.  Love our enemies?

An enemy is anyone who hurts you, offends you, who persecutes and wishes evil on you.  Romans 12:9-21 is Paul's very practical application of Jesus' teachings on love.  Love is to be genuine, hospitable, not vengeful or divisive. "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them." (verse 14)  Did Jesus know my enemies?  Did Paul see how awful my persecutors have been?  Both Jesus and Paul had enemies and experienced extreme abuse and suffering for their preaching, for what they represented.  I think they understood what they wrote to us who live two thousand years later.  We are to love.  Period.

This Christmas, may the love of Christ be all you need.  And all you give away to those around you.