Today’s Advent reading is Romans 5:6-11. (Click the link to open the passage in a new window).
How do you show love for others? How would you define love?
Gary Chapman proposes that there are five love languages: words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gifts, and touch.
How well do you speak these love languages?
In Romans 5, we see that God speaks all of these languages with perfect fluency.
He speaks to us the words of affirmation we most need to hear.
Quality time? We are reconciled to life and relationship with God forever.
He serves us when we were still sinners. And his service is not a minor inconvenience but requires his death.
This is the ultimate gift. His ‘touch’ goes beyond a handshake or a hug — he offers us his very blood - that is, his body broken in death for us, on the cross.
This week of Advent is a time for considering the love of God. You may hear John 1 read:
He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
It seems to me that God has a qualitatively different understanding of love from my own. I feel that my ability to speak in any love language, compared to what we see of God’s love, is baby talk at best.
Both in his birth and in his death, Jesus loved those who rejected him.
As recipients of his love, the proper response is to “boast” in God. May your heart be filled with joyful praise as you prepare yourself for Christmas!
Personal Reflection and Community Discussion Questions:
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How does Paul describe our condition when Christ showed us the ultimate expression of love?
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What gift do you need at Christmas?
You are encouraged to share other reflections on these passages.
You can find this week’s Advent 2021 readings here: