… real love doesn’t depend on how others treat us,
it flows from who we are in Christ.
Advent 3 : Love
Catherine Heilbronn
Love Isn’t Sentimental… It’s Sacrificial.
I confess that, whilst it’s easy to talk about the kind of fluffy love we’ll encounter in ‘Love Actually’ or ‘The Holiday’, in a season that is filled with the excitement of gifts and sparkly lights, I really do find loving others hard – and at Christmas even more so. Not that I don’t love Advent and Christmas, of course. But in truth, I genuinely find December a bit exhausting – children’s birthdays, buying presents, organising social stuff, seeing family, getting work done… There’s a lot to do, and I can slip into negativity sometimes.
If love really is ‘all around us’ (as the song goes!) shouldn’t it be simple and effortless? Especially at Christmas?
So I am relieved to discover that underneath the wrapping paper, the sparkle of the tree and the Christmas songs, we can encounter a love that isn’t clichéd, simple or wrapped with a bow. Here, laying helplessly in a feeding trough, of all places, is the love we are called to embody.
This love that Christ revealed is not always easy or comfortable. It’s a love that means giving more than we planned – the love that forgives, endures, and reaches out even when it’s hard.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that: ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
These words point us to how difficult it can be to practice the same love that God shows us – patience with someone who tests us; kindness toward someone who wounds us; forgiveness when our pride would rather win. Love just isn’t always simple or easy.
During the Last Supper Jesus kneels before His disciples and washes their feet. It always shocks me that He washes even Judas’ feet, the one who would betray Him. Jesus knew the pain that was coming, yet He chose to love fully, without condition showing that real love doesn’t depend on how others treat us. It flows from who we are in Christ.
How can we let that same love take root in us?
We must actively invite the Holy Spirit in to transform us – every day! Like Mary, embodying her role as an integral part of God’s salvation plan for the world, it means selling our pride. Only this way can we love the difficult family member, the neighbour who grates on us, the stranger who may never return kindness. Only this way can we see people as Christ sees them.
God’s love entered the world not through a display of power but through choosing vulnerability. Jesus came to love a world that would reject Him. His love wasn’t sentimental, it was sacrificial.
“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and the more we open our hearts to His presence, the more His love transforms us. He teaches us to love when it hurts, to serve when it’s inconvenient, to hope when it seems foolish.
Love is always worth it because it is the very heart of God made flesh among us.
How might you embody love and serve others this Advent – even when it’s inconvenient? Well, ask him! Through prayer, ask the Holy Spirit how you may be called to use your unique abilities to love and serve others, with the purpose of bringing wholeness and hope to those around us through encountering Jesus.
Let’s Pray: