The Fourth Sunday of Advent: Love
This week, we were asked to share about love at our church’s Sunday service. As I mentioned there, love is a topic I am really passionate about because it’s life-changing. And while it’s a topic I write about a lot, it’s one that I will never tire of learning and sharing about. Some people asked for the text of what was shared, so here you have it.
The final week of Advent is all about love.
This is a topic I’m really passionate about because love is life-transforming. But before we can talk about the most amazing love of all, we need to understand what love actually means.
So often when we hear the word love our minds go straight to Valentine’s Day and all of that. And while that kind of love isn’t bad, it’s still not the same kind of love that the Bible teaches us about. Ancient Greek, which is what the New Testament was written in, actually has four different words for love. They are, eros, or romantic love, storge, or familial love, the kind of love that parents have for their children, philia, or brotherly love, often seen in siblings or friends, and agape, or love of God.
The first three are examples of love that humans possess and as Jen Wilkin puts it, “Human love, even in its finest moments, can only whisper of the pure and holy love of God.” The love that you have for your spouse, children, siblings, parents, pets or even peppermint mochas pales in comparison to the love that God has for us. Why? Because Agape love is different. It is unconditional, selfless, active, sacrificing and unending. It’s the love that came down from heaven as a baby, and that later died on the cross for all of humanity. It’s this love that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13. Agape love is patient and kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. This love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Our friends and our family and even our favorite holiday drinks will always fail us but God’s love never will.
My favorite part about being married isn’t all that mushy gushy stuff or even “doing life with my best friend”, it’s actually how I’ve seen, even in these short six months, both our lives being transformed by God’s love. Because there are days we don’t always feel in love or even like loving each other, and by we I mean me, because let’s be honest, Adrian is a saint and I married WAYYY up. But even in those moments where the feelings of love are gone, we are able to call on God and ask for His help to actually love one another with His agape love. Just the other day I was quite angry with Adrian and while I felt everything but love, I knew that regardless of how I felt, I needed to show him love, somehow. So while arguing, I grabbed his hand - we’re physical touch people so it helps us - and even that small gesture helped God soften my heart and fill me with His love. And that’s the beauty of Agape love. It helps us love those we have a hard time loving. Because it’s totally not dependent on our feelings and instead characterized by loving actions. And in the process of loving those who are hard for us to love, our hearts are transformed and become more like Christ.
So as we light this last candle, let us thank God for His unfailing love that saved us and transforms us. And let us also not forget that we have been called to be light in the darkness and to love, as He has loved us. In John 13, Jesus says that everyone will know we are his disciples by the way we love one another. So let us do that and let us bring that love into a world in need. Let us love extravagantly knowing the source of our love is in the one who loved us first. Let us love one another selflessly even when we don’t feel like it and let’s take Agape love into our workplaces, communities, schools, and cities.