A Hope Eternal - Advent DevotionalSample

Advent is a time to reflect on the coming of the Christ child, the Messiah, Jesus! It’s a time to meditate on why God the Father chose to send Jesus to become a human being by the unction of the Holy Spirit. It’s a time to contemplate the greatest kind of love our glorious God has for each one of us, even though we do not deserve it.

In 1 John 3:1, we discover some amazing insights about God the Father and His love for us, as well as what His love does for us and in us through His Son. John is writing this letter from the Church of Ephesus to the Christians throughout the Roman world and possibly those churches mentioned later in Revelation 2-3. Two main themes just in this one verse are the greatest kind of love of God the Father and who we are in Christ.

The phrase, “See what kind of love the Father has given us,” is so powerful. “What kind of love" can be translated as “See how great a love” or “See the greatest kind of love.” I can imagine as John writes this the Holy Spirit is reminding him of several thoughts from the earlier work he was led to write, his Gospel. From this one verse, we observe the emphasis of God’s great love that flows out of His very nature, for “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Then he remembers that because of God’s great love, oh He “so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Therefore, because of God’s great love for us, God gave His Son first at the first Advent, the birth of Jesus, and the Incarnation through the Virgin Mary! Then because of God’s great love for us, He gave His Son at the cross and took on our sins and became “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). And because of God’s great love for us, He raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit so we might experience and know this great love for us: “so that we might live through Jesus” (1 John 4:9). Because of God’s great love, I can imagine John remembering the end of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).

The greatest kind of love that God, the Father, pours out upon us is not a worldly love, not a friendship love, but agapé—the highest kind of love, unconditional love, and truly divine love! Because the Father’s greatest kind of love has been bestowed on you and me, we actually are called and become children of God! Again, John must have been recalling his Gospel, where he wrote, “But all who did receive Him [Jesus], who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God!” (John 1:12).

During this Advent season may you meditate on the greatest kind of love that God the Father has for you because He sent His Son to not only die for you but also to take on your sin and the wrath you deserved so that when you accept His gift you may truly know that you are a child of God.

Prayer

Our gracious and merciful Father, we come to You this moment overwhelmed by Your great love for us—the greatest kind of love that only You can give through Your Son. May this Advent season be a time of experiencing the greatest kind of love and coming to the realization that by the Spirit of adoption, we are made a son or daughter of God through Christ Jesus our Lord! Amen.

Daniel Gilbert, Ph.D., serves as an assistant professor of Christian Theology for the Regent University School of Divinity.