Living in the light of Love
I think Love Actually is a quality Christmas movie. I appreciate that each character has to persevere in choosing love, and of course, that is more clumsy than flawless. Love is easily recognized as the greatest of human experiences. To be fully known and fully loved is what we all crave. Yet, to be loving is something we can forever aspire to but never fully attain.
God is love, and in the person of Christ, we see what love looks like. It is in the light of this love that we are called to live. Here are three lessons on love from God’s interaction with Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah to help us grow.
Beholden to what you love
We become beholden to what we love. King Ahaz is offered a sign by God for reassurance but dismisses it. Not because he didn’t need it but because he didn’t want it. Ahaz had become beholden to being king and operating independently of God. Ahaz denied what was good for him because he was beholden.
This is a good warning for us. We become beholden to what we love, so we should consider what we are in love with? Is it the God, people, and ideas that will lead to life, or is it power, prestige, and wealth that offer a counterfeit version of life?
Take another try
Home alone is one of my core four Christmas movies. I like the scene in which Kevin has a deep conversation with his elderly neighbor, who he was terrified of for most of the movie. The man is there to see his granddaughter sing because it’s now the only way he gets to see his granddaughter. The man had a falling out with is son a few years ago and so they no longer speak. Kevin’s challenge to his new friend is to talk to him. Don’t let it be as it is without trying one more time for restoration.
God is relentless and refuses to give up on creation, Israel, humanity, you, and me. God always gives another chance. We know we don’t have that same capacity, but we do have the capacity to try one more time. How or who might you try again with this week?
Be with to be for
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
Despite Ahaz’s denial of God, God is faithful. Sending Ahaz a sign, in the form of a child, that declares God with us. We are most familiar with this verse as Matthew reframes it as pointing to Jesus birth. Both are true and point to the incredible reality that God is with us in order to be for us.
Jesus was scandalous because, according to the rulers and religious authorities, he chose to be with the wrong people. Why was it a problem? Becasue in the ancient world and today the greatest way to be for someone is to choose to be with them. When we share our presence and our time with another we are acting for them. To grow in love will require us to be with others. Let the light of God’s love shape each of your Christmas gatherings this year as well as your day to day, knowing that you are acting for others when you choose to be with them.
Growing in love is never complete. Lord, strengthen our hearts to believe your advent promise that one day we will walk in the holy way of Christ, where sorrow and sighing will be no more and peace, joy, and love will reign forever. Amen.
