Today we’re sharing an excerpt from Lifeway Women’s new Advent study, The Wonder of Advent. Order your copy or view a free sample at lifeway.com/wonder.
In the defining moments of my life, the presence of others has been the sweetest gift of love. At twelve, I lost my dad to cancer. When the emotion became overwhelming the night of the visitation, my favorite babysitter took me home and sat with me in my grief.
As a freshman in college, I had a terrible car accident that kept me at my family’s home for a few weeks before I could return to school. My friends drove three hours to my home to spend a day with me. They didn’t come with quick fixes or medical expertise, but their presence made all the difference.
As a new parent to a sweet adopted baby boy, we were tired and needy. Our church brought meals and spent time with us, calming our brand-new parent anxiety with the wisdom they shared in those moments.
Through the joys and struggles of life, the greatest vision of love has been the willingness of others to come to me, take off their coats, and stay a while. And yet, this is only a dim reflection of the love Jesus showed when He came to dwell with His people.
John doesn’t begin his Gospel with a birth narrative. The story of Jesus’s birth is not even mentioned in this Gospel. However, it does begin with a sort of origin story. John affirms in John 1:1 that “the Word” was in the beginning, was with God, and was God.
Jesus is the visible message of God. As the Son of God, one part of the Trinity, He is both God and has always existed with God. He was sent to us in love to reveal the depth of God’s love for humanity. While on earth, He lived the sinless life we could not live and died to pay for sin and make a way for us to be made right with God.
According to John 1:3-5, Jesus is not just the giver of life and light; He is life and light. He is the source of all life and light we know today. This is both biological and spiritual, as He is the agent of creation and the agent of recreation—our new life found in Him. These gifts are the outworking of His love.
Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. He has taken on flesh and dwelled among us. May we get lost in the glory of His incarnation as we reflect on Him today. Spend some time thanking God for His great love that would send His Son to dwell among us and make a way to be made right with Him again. He could have saved His people in a thousand other ways, but He chose nearness. Presence.
In love, God made a way for us to be with Him both today and forever. Love marked His coming to be with us; love marked His way to the cross on our behalf; and love will mark His return.
Get an inside look at a sample of the study here:
And here are some fun wallpapers for your desktop and phone! Click the images below to download!
