Christmas Love
“Love incarnate”: two words that summarize the Christmas story. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). “Taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). Just a few examples of summary statements that express how God loved us enough to enter into our predicament in order to rescue us. Christmas is first and foremost a love story. It reveals a unique love called agape and teaches us a new way to love.
There are so many possible alternatives to an offer of love from the all-powerful God of the universe. It’s hard to imagine He would choose to approach us, His literal mortal enemies, in the form of a vulnerable infant, born in substandard conditions. Many of the religions of the world have fashioned gods who approach humanity as fear-producing control-freaks, threatening to vaporize their worshippers for the slightest infractions, or for absolutely nothing.
The One True God takes a much different approach. He not only becomes one of us, He invites us to become His children. The great Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, was amazed by this. Luther noted that even the circumstances of Jesus’ unique birth showed He was relating to sinners. Luther wrote:
Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners—in fact, he even puts them in his family tree! Now if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one … but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them.
Martin Luther, "Sermon on the Day of Mary's Birth," September 8, 1522; quoted in Dale Bruner, The Christbook (Word Books, 1987), p. 8
Including us in His family! Now there’s an act of love that encompasses Christmas love in perhaps the most magnanimous of ways! He offered the ultimate gift: “…the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
The gift is amazing enough: His Son. But consider what gave the gift an indescribable value. God made the unthinkable choice of sacrificing His Son. Jesus died on our behalf. That’s unfathomable from a human perspective. But the genius of it continues. By so doing, Christ is the gift that keeps on giving, eternally.
As if eternal life wasn’t enough, Christ’s sacrifice teaches us how to love in the process. Agape love is a love unique to the New Testament. Being unconditional, it is set apart from that of the world, where love says, “I love you, if…”. Uniquely and apart from anything the false gods of the world could offer, Jesus’ love is proved special “in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). As a result, like God, we love even the undeserving.
Marshall Shelley wrote in Leadership Journal:
God's kind of love is best learned where we can't be selective about our associates. Perhaps this is why the two institutions established by God—the family and the church—are not joined by invitation only. We have no choice about who our parents or brothers or sisters will be; yet we are expected to love them. Neither can we choose who will or will not be in the family of God; any who confess Jesus as Lord must be welcomed. We learn agape love most effectively in our involuntary associations, away from the temptation of choosing to love only the attractive.
Pass along the gift of agape to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Live out love for Christmas this year. Love sacrificially, as Christ did, expecting nothing in return. You may be rejected, or you may be thanked! Either way, you are learning to love in a way that will change you and may even change someone through you for eternity!
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” —John 13:34