This year the words of the apostle John (from my recent study of his letters) dominate my ponderings of our annual remembrance of the coming of Jesus Christ as a human baby. So far we have seen that he is life, light, and truth. Now we finally come to John’s favorite theme and the one that matches the church calendar today—LOVE.

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Advent 4: JESUS IS LOVE

Love is the opposite of hatred. Love is a selfless desire to do good. Hatred is a self-centered desire to do harm. Some of us feel deeply loved during this season when we receive gifts surrounded by those we cherish. Many tune into Hallmark to find love. But some stand beside fellow believers singing “wonders of his love” while secretly wishing they would come to an untimely end.

We love to think we love others and hate to say we hate anyone! But the “Christmas spirit” of love can camouflage the real hatred in our hearts. Instead Advent reorients us to real love. While the word “love” doesn’t explicitly appear in the narrative of the Christmas story, the apostle John emphasizes that love IS the story.

Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem is true love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 Jn 4:9–10 (also Jn 3:16)

God is love (1 Jn 4:7–8). He initiates love (1 Jn 4:19). And he offers it to us in the form of his son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah—God made flesh.

When we believe we become God’s children.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 Jn 3:1

During this season especially we think of family. As I want my present to be the presence of my children and granddaughter around me, how much more does God want his lavishly loved children to be with him.

Jesus instructs us to love others the way he loves us.

I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

2 Jn 1:5–6; 1 Jn 4:7; Jn 13:34–35

Christmas isn’t just about celebrating God’s love for us in Jesus, but in showing that love to others. John gives us a few directions about what that looks like. First, don’t hate.

But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

1 Jn 2:11; 3:15; 4:20 (also 2:9)

John isn’t talking about hating the commercialization of Christmas or eggnog. Rather, he is speaking of “malicious or unjustifiable feelings”¹ or “intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury”² towards spiritual brothers and sisters.³ He uses this strong word to communicate that hatred and loving God cannot coexist in a believer’s life.

Next John tells us in broad strokes what love looks like.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 Jn 3:16–18

Jesus gave up his rights as God to be born as a baby. He humbled himself. He forgave. He gave his life for us. I want to love like that. Therefore, I will not let little annoyances and dislikes fester. I will deal with my feelings before they turn into bitterness and hatred. I will choose to forbear,⁴ forgive, and love instead as Jesus loves me.

Commentator David Guzik says, “Sometimes it is easy to think, ‘Following Jesus would be easy if it weren’t for all the Christians.’ And many, many Christians live as the walking wounded, crippled by the scars other Christians have inflicted on them. Yet this measure still stands. If we can’t love each other, then we have no way to claim a real love for God. Our relationship with God can be measured by our love for other Christians.”⁵

Today, we marvel at the one who is LOVE and demonstrates to us how to love others.

How will you walk in love today?

PRAYER

As you anticipate the coming of the one who is LOVE, may you be empowered to love—not hate—others as he loves you.

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1. Vine, W. “Hate, Hateful, Hater, Hatred – Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.” Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 24 Jun, 1996. https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/dictionary/viewtopic.cfm ↩︎
2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hate I appreciate this definition because it gets to the root of most hatred and gives me a handle to investigate why I might hate someone. ↩︎
3. We are also asked to love our enemies (Lk 6:35), but here John is referring to our spiritual brothers and sisters. ↩︎
4. For annoyances or differences of opinions we are asked to forbear and overlook (Eph 4:2; Pr 19:11). But this does not mean we expose ourselves to abuse or harm or put up with things that we should hate such as pride and injustice. ↩︎
5. https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/1-john-2/ ↩︎

For further meditation:

• No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 Jn 4:12
• This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 Jn 4:17–18
• In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. 1 Jn 5:3
• As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. Jn 15:9–10
• Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Pet 1:22
• But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. Mt 5:22–26
• Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. Lev 19:18
• But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Lk 6:35
• A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. Pr 19:11
• See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Heb 12:15