Love - Week 4
We often think about joy as an experience of happiness based on favorable circumstances: a stroke of good luck, a personal achievement, or a long-held desire finally being satisfied. But when joy depends on circumstances, it fades fast when the good times end.
Advent joy is not about general happiness stemming from good times. It’s a deep sense of safety and freedom people feel because of God’s loving character, which remains constant through all circumstances, and because God can be trusted to ultimately bless and heal creation as he promised. Similar to the joy a friend’s presence brings on good days and bad, we experience joy as God walks with us through the fluctuations of life’s positive and painful circumstances.
In the Bible, people express joy both when God delivers them from situations of oppression and while still in the middle of exile, persecution, and pain. As people remember God’s loving, rescuing actions throughout history, they wait in joyful hope for him to act in the future, even when that waiting requires patient suffering.
This kind of joy is about being united with the God who walks with us and trusting that he will one day wipe away every tear. It looks to the future but also takes root in our present reality.
The season of Advent invites us to experience joy not because everything is perfect but because God is with us and his joy is already breaking into the world.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. - John 15:9-17
On the day of Jesus’ advent, an angel announces to a group of shepherds that God’s promised king is arriving in Bethlehem. This message is “good news of great joy which will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). For centuries, Israel languished under foreign empires, longing for the arrival of God’s promised king who would bring lasting justice, peace, and healing (see Isa. 9:6-7, 11:1-9). But when the angel joyfully proclaims that this king has finally come, the people are not expecting this kind of arrival—or this kind of king.
Jesus does not overthrow human enemies or establish a dominant throne in Jerusalem. Instead, he challenges the root cause of his people’s suffering by fighting their true enemies—sin and death. These are the powerful forces of corruption that not only fuel Rome’s oppression but also enslave all humanity and compel every form of evil. By defeating these enemies, Jesus invites us into a new way of life in his Kingdom of humility, generosity, and love.
Jesus explains that by living according to his instruction, people receive his own joy, which eventually becomes “full” or “complete” (Greek: pleroo, John 15:11). And the most fundamental way to follow his instruction, he says, is to “love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Jesus is not inviting people to embrace generally warm affections toward others. He wants them to love others as he has loved them. Real joy is rooted in the self-giving love of Jesus.
How might embracing Jesus’ self-giving love reshape the way you seek joy and live toward others this Advent?
Joy - Week 3
Love is often seen as a force beyond our control, something people fall in or out of. Or it may seem like something satisfying that we can achieve, driving us to chase affection through relationships or status. “Love is all you need,” they say, because it’s the path to self-fulfillment.
But something is missing from that picture of love. The Bible invites us to see a kind of love that’s neither accidental nor driven by desire for self-fulfillment. Instead, it involves a steady commitment to care for the well-being of others—never self-seeking, always self-giving—even when it costs us.
Jesus shows this kind of love when he gives his life for friends and enemies alike. Dying on a cross, with his killers still laughing at him, Jesus cares for their well-being as he prays for their forgiveness (Luke 23:34). Living with this kind of love does not mean ignoring our own needs or devaluing ourselves. After all, Jesus says to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39). But it means choosing to see all people as living miracles of God, each made in God’s image and deeply loved by him.
The Advent season leads us to reflect on the future God is bringing, where every interaction will be shaped and compelled by love. Even more, it invites us to live into that coming world right now by loving others the way Jesus does. As we give of ourselves in order to care for both friends and enemies, we demonstrate the love that Jesus shows to all people.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. - 1 John 4:7-21
In one of the most powerful reflections on love in the Bible, the Apostle John writes, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love is the way God chooses to act, yes, but it runs deeper: Love is his very essence. So if we truly know who God is, that knowledge will show up in the tangible ways we love others.
We show our love for God by loving the people who are made in his image (1 John 4:20; see Gen. 1:26-27). Love for God and love for neighbor are inseparably bound together as one way of thinking, feeling, and acting (see Mark 12:28-31). We see this way of living most clearly in Jesus.
Jesus’ love is active, costly, and directed toward healing the broken, forgiving the sinful, and restoring peace to the battle-worn and exhausted. God the Son enters humankind in Jesus, not because God pities us or because we finally did enough good to deserve his help. Instead, God lowers himself, taking on flesh and human suffering—including death—because God is love. Love moves toward the good of the other. And Jesus moves into our world, into our neighborhood, for our good.
This kind of love cannot be manufactured. We develop Jesus-style love when we choose to abide in God’s love and be shaped and transformed by it.
Living in the way of Jesus opens our eyes to see others the way God sees them. And when we see people through the eyes of love, that love shines through us in practical, helpful ways. Advent reminds us that love itself is God’s essential nature and should permeate his creation. As we choose to embrace God’s way of love, we begin to reflect it throughout the world.
How might abiding in God’s love reshape the way you see and respond to the people around you this Advent?
Peace - Week 2
We often hear that peace comes through strength. If our military is the most powerful fighting force, our enemies won’t challenge us and we’ll have peace. Taking the opposite approach, some try to “keep the peace” by avoiding conflict and ignoring problems, hoping they’ll solve themselves. Like Israel’s false prophets, they provide superficial harmony, saying, “Peace, peace!” But in reality, nobody is truly at peace.
The kind of peace envisioned during Advent comes not through military victory or avoidance of reality but through the way of Jesus. He brings true peace by honestly addressing and working to heal the deeper sources of division, such as fear and pride, that compel people to violence.
Jesus reconciles all things to himself, offering healing and restoration through love and forgiveness.
As Jesus continues his work of bringing real, lasting peace throughout the Earth, we can participate in that work by living as peacemakers. We join with Jesus by embracing his non-violent way of forgiveness, caring for our neighbors, and extending generous love toward all people.
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. - Isaiah 9:1-7
Isaiah 9 speaks into a time of fear, instability, and political failure. When the Judean King Ahaz, a descendant of David, is threatened by enemy armies, he chooses to rely on Assyria, rather than trusting in God’s protection (see Isa. 7:1-17; 2 Kgs. 16:1-9). Ahaz seeks peace by relying on the power of an empire—a power that will ultimately be turned against him. Eventually, the Assyrian army marches not only against Judah’s enemies but also into Judah itself (see Isa. 8:6-8).
In the face of Ahaz’s failure, God promises to raise up a different kind of king, who will rule on David’s throne in righteousness and justice forever. As a “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6), this king will secure peace not through military strength but through ending violence altogether. Isaiah’s image of breaking the “rod of their oppressor” represents destroying all instruments of war, brutality, and tyranny (Isa. 9:4). And the destruction of “every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle, and cloak rolled in blood” symbolizes removing all traces of war (Isa. 9:5).
When this coming ruler halts the cycle of violence, people will respond by reshaping their weapons into agricultural tools, transforming objects used for killing into objects used for cultivating and nourishing life (see Isa. 2:4). So competition over resources will give way to kindness and generous sharing of every necessity. Following this Prince of Peace means refusing to return violence for violence. It means becoming people who embody his reconciling presence in the world. Whenever we overturn injustice and bring healing in place of harm, we are pointing toward his Kingdom of peace.
How is Jesus inviting you to embody his peace in a world that often expects retaliation instead?
Hope - Week 1
Sometimes hope feels wishful, like crossing our fingers and dreaming of a better outcome. We might hope for better employment, healed relationships, or a brighter future. But that kind of hope is based on things that may or may not happen. When things don’t go as we hoped, it can be crushing—our hope disappearing like vapor.
As a season of reflection and contemplation, Advent invites us to imagine a different kind of hope, rooted in the unchanging nature of God and his promise to restore every part of his creation. Advent hope does not minimize pain or difficulty, nor does it assume things will soon get better. Instead, it faces the darkness with courage and chooses to trust that God’s promises will come to pass, guaranteed by his long-proven, faithful character.
In the Hebrew Bible, the words most often used for hope—qavah and yakhal—are also translated as “wait.” To hope in God means to wait with patient expectation, trusting that he will fulfill his promises.
This kind of waiting leans forward, anticipating the day when Jesus will return to make all things new. Such hope empowers people to persevere, to act justly, and to serve others as a sign of the restoration that will arrive through Jesus.
Out of the depths I have cried to You, Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the sound of my pleadings. If you, Lord, were to keep account of guilty deeds, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, so that You may be revered. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and I wait for His word. My soul waits in hope for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; Yes, more than the watchmen for the morning. Israel, wait for the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his guilty deeds. - Psalm 130:1-8
When the psalmist cries out from “the depths” in Psalm 130:1, he reminds us that hope often rises from places of despair. Sometimes people suffer from the bad choices of others. But here, the poet asks for forgiveness, implying that the suffering he’s experiencing is the result of his own people’s (and perhaps his personal) bad decisions (see Ps. 130:4, 8). Rather than despairing, the psalmist remains confident in God’s merciful character, trusting God to forgive and exhibit loyal love.
The psalmist compares his hopeful waiting to watchmen stationed on the city walls during a long night, staying attentive to any sign of enemies. The watchmen eagerly anticipate the dawn, certain that night’s darkness cannot last forever. And the psalmist’s trust in God surpasses even the certainty that the sun will rise.
The watchmen base their confident expectation on history—the sun rises every morning. The psalmist similarly trusts in God based on history—the way God has always operated. God rescued and redeemed his people from brutal slavery in Egypt, crushing an oppressive empire thought to be unstoppable. And when Israel later rejected God by ignoring his instruction, God responded with forgiveness, revealing himself to be “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness.”
Rooted in this knowledge, the psalmist trusts that God is willing and able to redeem his people from their failures and the resulting consequences (Ps. 130:7). And he invites all Israel to join him in patient, hopeful waiting.
Waiting helps us slow down and become aware of what we’re waiting for, and just as importantly, how we’re waiting for it.
Israel’s story suggests that human effort alone cannot fix the damage people have unleashed in God’s good world. We all need someone who can truly embody God’s wisdom and lead us back to life. Advent hope acknowledges human failure and need for God without shaming. Followers of Jesus embrace a way of patience with themselves and one another, a way of mercy and forgiveness, waiting upon the one who brings new light every morning and redeems us from every form of brokenness.
God describes himself as “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness, maintaining loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.”
Where might God be inviting you to practice patient, hopeful waiting—trusting his character even before you see the dawn?