We are about to enter into the fourth Sunday of Advent and, this year, Christmas is right on it’s heels. The theme for the fourth Sunday of Advent is love and this theme is also applicable to Christmas. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” There is a lot more love to think about in the season of Christmas.
Mary showed love and trust towards God when she said, “Yes” to God and welcomed His son into her body and her life. She must have been worried how God’s plan was going to work out. What would people think seeing a pregnant unmarried woman? Would Joseph leave her when he found out and would she be able to afford to raise a child? Joseph also loved Mary and Jesus by trusting in God. He took Mary as his wife so she wouldn’t face criticism for having a baby out of wedlock. He also protected his family and helped Mary raise Jesus. Jesus showed great love by obeying the will of His Heavenly Father and also His Earthly parents. He also showed us all love by the sacrifice He made on Calvary.
Love at its finest entered the world on Christmas Day and we have that love with us even now. The Holy Spirit guides us through this life and inspires us to make decisions with love instead of selfishness. We’re all called to live in the loving example of Jesus and His followers.
Too often we see examples of bad relationships. The father is usually depicted a dead beat dad in many shows on television. While sometimes funny, many shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy portray bad fathers. Many other shows promote sexual relationships outside of marriage and encourage pornography, violence, and drug use. When we watch that content our brains are gradually wired to think the same way. Therefore, we should get in a habit of watching, reading, and listening to content that leads us into a closer relationship with God and not away from Him. It’s hard to win a race if our training involves eating potato chips and sitting on the couch. It’s also hard to find Heaven when we are wiring our brains to not think like God and conditioning our bodies to choose selfish love instead of selfless love.
This Christmas, let’s focus less on our own wants, desires, and needs and work on focusing our love on our Father and our neighbors. Let’s try to be less selfish and more selfless. We need to show Jesus to a world that has seemingly forgotten about Him. If we can do this, we will not only find ourselves past the finish line, but will be able to lead many more past it as well.
