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Advent—God’s Gift of Love

My husband and I have eight children, four are married and one is engaged. We currently have eight grandchildren and one on the way. This Christmas I wrapped gifts for twenty-two people—that is a labor of love!

 

But Christmas isn’t really about wrapped gifts, boxes and bows, or trees and lights. Christmas is about the greatest gift ever given—the life transforming gift of salvation.



God’s Gift of Love


For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish

but have eternal life.

John 3:16


John 3:16 might not appear as your typical Christmas scripture yet it tells abut about God’s gift of love. God loves us so much that he gave us the greatest gift ever given—and it was delivered—not by the Amazon driver—God delivered His gift for us to a stable.

 

Mary gave birth to this gift (talk about a labor of love) and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger. But the story doesn’t stop there!

 

Christmas is the beginning of God’s gift of love!

 

This gift of love—Jesus—came into our mess, into our sin and made us clean and new. He gave us new lives. He gave us the gift of adoption.



The Gift of Adoption

 

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.

This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure.

Ephesians 1:4-5

 

God’s plan was to adopt us into his family making us sons and daughters—what a gift of love! Christmas is just the beginning of our adoption story. God demonstrated His love for us from the manger to the cross to the empty tomb. This was our adoption process. This is the greatest love story ever told and the greatest gift of love ever given.




Give the Gift of Love

In her book Emmanuel—An Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always, Ruth Chou Simons says, “When the love of God, cradled in a lowly manger, becomes our greatest gift of the Christmas season and throughout the year, we can’t help but lavish such love onto others…and declare His love with our actions before a watching world.”

 

God’s greatest gift of love is a gift for us to open and enjoy—and give away to others.

 

In John 13:34-35 Jesus said, “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 the you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

 

Let’s open this gift of love and share it with a weary world.


As we wrap up this Advent season sitting among the unwrapped gifts, let us wrap our arms around those in our midst who need to experience God’s love. We’ve received the greatest gift ever given, now let’s give it away. 



My Gift to You

Throughout December on the Adoption & Foster Care Journey podcast, I’ll be featuring my annual Advent Series each week focusing on hope, peace, joy and love. Tune in for the following:

•   Short Advent message

•   Scripture

•   Holiday Parenting Survival Tip

•   Suggested Breath Prayer

•   My Prayer for YOU

 

Find the fourth and final Advent episode on the theme of love HERE

I pray you enjoy a season full of the hope, peace, joy and love of Jesus!

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