Love Made Complete in Us (Christmas Sunday)

The words people most long to hear are “I love you.” Yet love that lives only on the lips is not true love; true love is patient and kind, and does not seek its own advantage. God did not merely say that he loves us. By sending his only Son into this world, he made that love real.

The word “gave” carries sacrifice within it. Parents would hesitate to send their child into hardship now, even if it were to seat that child one day in a place of great glory. But God handed over his Son for us while we were still sinners, and the Son, in obedience, surrendered himself to the point of laying down his life.

In this way God’s love became not a feeling or a word but a reality revealed in Christ. If we stop at being those who have received this love, we stay where we are; it is when we love one another that his love is made complete in us. Christmas must be a day to grasp this love, to love our brothers and sisters, and to go out into the world and live it.