Prepare Your Heart: Christmas DevotionsSample

How Do I Love Thee?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning had simply titled it “Sonnet 43,” but her 14 lines made it one of the most famous poems in the English language.

How do I love thee? Jewelry stores are buying immense amounts of TV airtime right now, helping the concept to dawn on romantically minded men young and old to purchase gifts at their stores that will thrill the hearts of the females whose attention these men desire. Black Friday kicked off the mad annual rush of “Santamas,” stoking the crazed materialism of our culture to an even greater degree. Is your life still sane, or do you fear that it is out of control? Do you feel the pressure mounting, or are you enjoying this month?

How much does your God love thee? This much: “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9,10).

If your Christmas is built around that kind of love, everything else will fall into place.