The Advent of Christ - The Cost of Love

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”
1 John 4:7-12

Love. This time of year makes most people think about love. The feeling of love that is felt while preparing for visiting family. The love that is felt while making seasonal treats for this particular holiday season. The love that I have for those particular treats!

While these things can bring us happiness, we need to remember the original meaning of love. The love that God showed to us by sending Jesus to us to pay for the sins of all who would believe and turn from their wicked ways. It was a sacrifice, meaning it had a cost to God the Father. A wise man once told me in an extremely pivotal moment in my life, “The only way to measure how much you love someone, is by how much you sacrifice for them.” This was an earth shaking statement for me because until I had heard that, I thought love was a feeling. I did not realize that it was about action.

As I began to read the Bible, and learn about what love really means, I began to realize that love has a cost to the giver. If we are to follow after Jesus, and imitate the love that our Father has for us, we must move into action and it should cost us something. In this season of family get-togethers, parties and giving of gifts, let us remember that the reason for the season ended with Jesus on the cross showing the most amazing and beautiful example of love that could ever be shown and apply the gratitude we feel for that love by truly loving others. Jesus told us that there is more joy in giving than receiving and we honor the ultimate gift we have received by loving with a cost to us.