Advent: A 25-Day Countdown to ChristmasSample

3 Ways to Show Love Today

Over the last few days, we’ve looked at love as following Jesus’ example by treating everyone as valuable and worthy of sacrificial care. But when we reflect on our own approach to loving others, we might recognize areas where we’re more selfish than we are selfless. Or where we’re more concerned about treating people we like as valuable, but struggle to see the value in people who are different from us.

Often, the way God calls us to love others is opposite from what we know or what culture says is right. Love is a process, and it takes time to adopt the ways God calls us to love others. But we all have a step we can take today and this holiday season.

Here are three ways you can show love to those around you right now.

1. Stand up for what’s right.

The holiday season can be a time when tensions run high. We all probably have that one uncle (or aunt, or cousin, or neighbor—you get the idea), who will bring up a hurtful topic at the dinner table. When this happens, the tendency might be to correct the behavior or ignore it altogether, and neither of those options are loving.

Instead, Ephesians 4:15 encourages us to speak the truth in love. You can advocate for what’s right from a place of respect, honor, and humility, regardless of the topic. This looks like being curious, listening to understand (not to respond with the perfect rebuttal), and remembering that everyone at the dinner table is made in God’s image.

When you do, you’re bringing value and dignity to the people around you, and to those who might not ever know they were a topic of conversation.

2. Be generous toward others.

Last week, we looked at generosity through the lens of joy, and how it also influences how we show love to others.

Generosity is sharing what you have to help someone else. This includes our money, but also everything else we have. In a time of year when consumerism can run wild, you can pause and take inventory of what you have. What gifts or passions do you have that might bless someone around you? How could you leverage finances as a tool to show God’s love to someone in need?

When you practice generosity, you’re checking your heart’s posture to ensure it’s aligned with God’s. It can help you be more conscious as you make your holiday purchases and help you to be more aware of the people around you.

3. Know when to practice boundaries.

As we consider the sacrificial care we’re called to show others, it’s important to recognize the difference between love and enablement. Occasionally, there will be situations when we need to love from afar.

However, boundaries can also help us identify how we let others into our lives. Instead of drawing hard and fast lines and kicking people out of our lives completely, we can choose how we engage with them. In doing so, we’re able to best show up with love toward everyone we interact with.

As Christmas gets closer, consider one way you can show love to others through one of these three ways.

Pause and Pray:

Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me with an unconditional, unwavering love. I want to be someone who shares Your love with everyone I meet, but sometimes that feels difficult when I’m stretched thin, overwhelmed, or burned out. Please give me everything I need to love the people around me well today and always. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Reflect or Discuss:

How do you best share love with those around you? Find one new, tangible way to share God’s love with someone today.